Category: Corona Virus

FORT MYERS

Pfizer announced today that they have a promising coronavirus vaccine candidate showing 90% effectiveness. They are now on track to apply for emergency authorization later in November. But who in Florida will have first access to this new vaccine?

Dr. Alejandro Perez-Trepichio is a doctor with Millennium Physician Group. That effective of 90% is certainly not heard in the majority of vaccines, said Dr. Perez-Trepichio.

Florida has charted its COVID vaccine plan. The vaccine will go to healthcare workers, residents and staff of long term care facilities, and some essential workers.

As more doses become available, mass vaccination clinics could pop up for people who are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 or those 65 years and older. All of this before vaccinating the general public.

Dr. Bindu Mayi from Nova Southeastern University says Floridas goal should be to vaccinate millions. 40 We need at least 75% of the community to be immune in order to stop the spread of the virus, to stop the chain of transmission. So thats a fair chunk of the population, said Dr. Mayi.

But how does mass vaccination work? This is not a vaccine that in order to be successful will solely be distributed at health systems, said Dr. Perez-Trepichio. . I think we need to bring the vaccines to where the people are.

Healthcare professionals agree that just because a vaccine is on the horizon, or even once it does become available, that we shouldnt forget about wearing masks and social distancing.

We have to do prevention while we still sort this out, said Dr. Mayi.

This vaccine represents new challenges that others often do not. The vaccine has to be preserved in a special conditions that are going to make the distribution a little bit of a challenge, Dr. Perez-Trepichio said.

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The plan to get the coronavirus vaccine to Florida - Wink News

A nurse checks vitals for a Navajo woman, who came to a coronavirus testing center in Arizona, complaining of virus symptoms. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A nurse checks vitals for a Navajo woman, who came to a coronavirus testing center in Arizona, complaining of virus symptoms.

Health insurers used to be able to deny coverage or charge more for an applicant who had a preexisting medical condition. That's the industry term for a condition that could range from allergies to cancer.

The Affordable Care Act changed all that as of 2014, guaranteeing coverage for those with preexisting conditions. But now the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments, starting Tuesday, on a case filed to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

And people are wondering: If preexisting conditions were again to become a cause to deny coverage, would a COVID-19 survivor be in jeopardy?

Before we discuss this question, it's important to note that you shouldn't worry ... yet. It's unlikely the court will rule on the case before next spring.

And even if the Supreme Court were to overturn the law, existing coverage contracts would likely stay in place for at least a couple of months, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in a briefing Monday with reporters.

Now on to the FAQ about COVID-19.

In pre-ACA days, a bout with a virus might not have been considered a preexisting condition. That's because many people tend to recover quickly from viruses.

But in a blog post last week, researchers at the Rand Corp. suggested that COVID-19 could be seen differently by insurers. "Given the chronic problems [which can include organ damage, fatigue and confusion] associated with some COVID-19 cases, it is possible that some insurers would place restrictions on anyone who had a confirmed case of COVID-19," wrote Carter C. Price, Rand's senior mathematician, and Raffaele Vardavas, a mathematician at Rand who specializes in infectious disease models.

The researchers said that exclusion might also extend to people who didn't have a positive coronavirus test but did test positive for antibodies to the virus, which indicates they had it or were previously exposed.

"While a mild case of COVID-19 might not be subject to a preexisting clause, that would be up to insurers to determine," said Karen Pollitz, senior fellow, health reform and private insurance at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Pollitz added that insurers could also impose a preexisting exclusion for COVID-19 for anyone at higher risk of getting the virus such as grocery store clerks or ride-share drivers who are exposed to the public and who test frequently to determine if they have COVID-19.

"Just a history of frequent testing could be something insurers could act on," Pollitz said.

And that's not all. Someone who developed anxiety and/or depression since the start of the pandemic might also be considered to have a preexisting condition. Twenty years ago, Kaiser surveyed health insurance underwriters and asked about a similar situation: a hypothetical applicant in perfect health except for "situational depression" following the death of a spouse. According to the survey, "in 60 applications for coverage, this applicant was denied a quarter of the time, and offered coverage with a surcharged premium and/or benefit exclusions 60% of the time."

So both experts and consumers are concerned that invalidating the Affordable Care Act could mean that once again, individuals with preexisting conditions might not be covered and such conditions could include COVID-19.

Then again, protection for those with preexisting conditions is a popular feature for consumers and, by extension, their elected officials. If the ACA is overturned, it's expected that President-elect Joe Biden would work on new ways to offer coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., who has contributed to The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News. Find her on Twitter: @fkritz

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Coronavirus FAQ: Could COVID-19 Ever Be Considered A Preexisting Condition? - NPR

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) New York State is facing a grim outlook in the fight against thecoronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state has almost the same number of infections as back in June, and things could get worse before they get better.

You will see through the fall the numbers going up nationwide, the governor told ABCs Good Morning America on Monday. Scientists said that was going to happen. Its going to be managing the infection increase, which is going to be the challenge.

On Sunday, Cuomo announced there were 18 fatalities the day before and the statewide positivity rate was 2.3% the highest its been since June.

Our seven-day rolling average 2.21% the highest weve seen in a long time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. Now were having some challenges on Staten Island. So were going to focus a lot of resources there to protect the people of Staten Island and to stop this second wave. Were going to see a day of action tomorrow on Staten Island and this day of action means a lot outreach, a lot of mask distribution, a lot of testing.

Many told CBS2s John Dias they fear another lockdown.

Maybe well have to take a minute or two out again and do it, one woman told Dias.

Too many people keep dying. They cant control whats going on, Cypress Hills resident Tomas Baleao said.

I think its gotten so far out of control at this point, another person added.

MORE FROM CBS NEW YORK

While President Donald Trump continues to tout his handling of the pandemic, the governor says President-elect Joe Biden will have a different approach to COVID.

When you deny a problem the way Trump did, you can never solve it, Cuomo said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy echoed that statement.

Beginning with the president theres a complete belief in science, data and facts, he said.

The Garden States seven-day rolling average is 4.86%, according to John Hopkins. Murphy is expected to make a major announcement Monday about new restrictions on places where people gathering.

Weve seen as restaurants stay open later, seating at bars, interstate indoor sports tournament those are areas that were looking very closely, the governor said.

In Connecticut, the rolling average of cases is 4.74%.

Health officials warn against large gatherings for Thanksgiving and urge everyone to wear a mask and practice social distancing.

You can get the latest news, sports and weather on our brand new CBS New York app. Download here.

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Cuomo Says Managing Infection Rate Will Be Critical As New Yorks Coronavirus Numbers Climb - CBS New York

Between Nov. 5-9, the number of confirmed cases in Ford County grew by 71, to 396.

Of those, 279 are classified as confirmed by the county health department, with the 117 others listed as probable.

Seventeen county residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.

Due to what the county health department describes as "an issue we are experiencing with state reporting systems," it's been unable to provide daily testing and case totals since late last month.

"No additional data can be provided at this time," the health department wrote in a Monday news release.

Vermilion Countys 15th coronavirus-related death involves a woman more than 100 years old.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family, Vermilion health Administrator Doug Toole wrote Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases in the county grew by 12 Monday, to 1,925. That figure was on the low end, Toole said, because staff spent much of the day reviewing new cases.

The case numbers will be higher tomorrow, Toole said.

Twenty-one county residents are hospitalized with the virus. They're among 241 active cases.

How Monday's new cases break down by age:

The seven-day positivity rate in the region that covers East Central Illinois continues to trend in the wrong direction.

When figures were updated Monday afternoon by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Region 6s rate rose from 10.8 percent to 11.3 percent.

For restrictions to be lifted, the region that includes Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Piatt, Vermilion and 16 other counties must have three consecutive days of a rate under 6.5 percent.

The metrics the state uses cover a period that ends three days earlier (figures posted Monday are through Nov. 6) and exclude data from the UI campus massive saliva testing (if UI tests were included, the regions rate would be 4.2 percent, up from 3.8 overnight).

A look at how the rate has grown over time:

Below is a look at the rolling seven-day rates of the 21 counties that make up Region 6, and how those rates compare to the previous day after Nov. 5 testing was factored in:

*-If the UIs saliva testing results were included in the states count, Champaign Countys seven-day rate would be 1.7 percent, up from 1.5 overnight.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker tells reporters during a news conference Monday in Chicago that the COVID-19 situation in the northwest region of Illinois is impacted by sharing borders with Iowa and Wisconsin, states where positivity rates are higher.

Reports Peter Hancock of our Springfield-based news partner, Capitol News Illinois:

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday that three more regions of the state will be placed under even stricter COVID-19 restrictions starting Wednesday as the states rates of infections and hospitalizations continue to climb.

The virus is winning the war right now, Pritzker said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago.

Ten of the states 11 regions are under Tier 1 mitigations, which include the closing of bars and restaurants to indoor service and limiting the size of public gatherings to 25 or fewer, among other measures.

Only Region 1, which includes northwest Illinois, is under Tier 2 mitigations. Restrictions under Tier 2 include limiting public gatherings to 10 or fewer people and limiting outdoor seating at bars and restaurants to six or fewer people at a single table.

Starting Wednesday, Pritzker said, Region 5, in southern Illinois, Region 7, which includes the south Chicago suburbs in Will and Kankakee counties, and Region 8, which includes the western suburbs in DuPage and Kane counties, will join Region 1 in those stricter mitigation measures.

Regions are placed in the first tier of resurgence mitigations whenever the average test positivity rate exceeds 8 percent for three consecutive days. The restrictions are lifted only after the positivity rate falls below 6.5 percent for three consecutive days.

A full list of the mitigation measures in place in each region is available on the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunitys website.

Pritzker said the latest actions are being taken because of rising test positivity rates in each of the regions. In Region 5, according to the most recent data on the Illinois Department of Public Healths website, the seven-day rolling average positivity rate stood at 11.5 percent on Saturday, Nov. 6, while Region 7 posted a 16.4 percent rate and Region 8 stood at 13.7 percent.

Each of those regions has been under Tier 1 mitigations for more than two weeks. Region 5 was placed under those restrictions Oct. 22, while Regions 7 and 8 followed on Oct. 23.

But those measures so far have failed to bring down the rate of infections in those areas, and Pritzker put the responsibility for that on local officials.

Some elected leaders are allowing this continued rise in positivity to balloon out of control while taking no action, he said. These mayors and city councils and county boards and state's attorneys need to take some responsibility for keeping their constituents safe. I promise them that responsibility pales in comparison to what could come when the hospitals in your area are filling up and there aren't enough nurses or doctors to save their constituents lives.

In addition to the three regions where Tier 2 mitigations were announced Monday, two other regions appear to be headed in the same direction, according to IDPH data. Those include Region 2, which includes Peoria, the Quad Cities and several surrounding counties, and Region 3, which includes Springfield, Quincy and other areas of west-central Illinois.

The rolling average positivity rate in both of those regions stood higher than in Region 5 13.2 percent in Region 2 and 14.4 percent in Region 3 but the Tier 1 mitigations in those regions have been in effect only since the first week of November.

A spokeswoman for Pritzker said in an email that the administration typically waits two to three weeks before moving a region into a higher tier of mitigation.

All of Illinois has been on an upward trajectory of COVID-19 infections since early August. During his briefing, Pritzker noted the average number of new cases reported daily in Illinois has jumped 380 percent since Oct. 1, while the positivity rate has climbed 180 percent and both hospitalizations and deaths per day are up 150 percent.

From Saturday through Monday, IDPH reported a total of 33,020 new confirmed and probable cases an average of just over 11,000 per day and 132 virus-related deaths. The preliminary seven-day rolling average positivity rate stood at 11.4 percent.

That pushed the statewide totals since the pandemic began to 498,560 cases, and 10,210 deaths. Given the current rate of spread, Illinois will likely surpass half a million total cases on Tuesday.

As of late Sunday night, 4,409 people in Illinois were reported hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 857 patients were in intensive care units and 376 of those patients were on ventilators.

For the week of Nov. 2-8, the average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 each day stood at 4,043, the highest it has been since the peak of the first wave of the pandemic in mid-May. The average number of people in ICU beds stood at 799 per day, the highest number since early June, while average ventilator use stood at 349 per day, the highest rate since mid-June.

The number of confirmed cases in Champaign County grew by 40 Monday, to 7,129.

Other county numbers of note:

Six residents remain hospitalized with COVID-19.

Recovered cases were up by 103, to 6,677.

Active cases were down by 63, to 420.

Close contacts in quarantine were down by 69, to 1,382.

Heres an updated rundown of county ZIP codes with active cases followed by their total number of cases, according to C-U Public Health District data:

The countys pandemic totals, according to CUPHD:

The Leonhard Recreation Center will remain closed until Nov. 16 due to staff COVID-19 cases, the Champaign Park District announced over the weekend.

Although this was a difficult decision, the Champaign Park District and Leonhard Recreation Center staff take our members health and wellbeing seriously, Revenue Facilities Director Jimmy Gleason said in a statement.

We want nothing more than to provide a safe place for your health and wellness needs, and take cleaning and safety very seriously.

For the fourth straight day, new cases in Illinois topped 10,000.

Of 64,760 new tests reported Monday, 10,573 came back positive, a daily rate of 16.3 percent.

The statewide seven-day positivity rate rose from 10.6 to 11.4 percent

Heres a look at November's totals, with state pandemic highs marked with asterisks:

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday also reported 14 deaths statewide:

Twenty-nine new cases emerged from 5,339 new tests Sunday on the UI campus, a rate of 0.5 percent, according to data updated Monday.

The seven-day positivity rate on campus now stands at 0.6 percent.

Since Aug. 24, when classes began, there have been 3,143 unique cases of COVID-19 on the UI campus.

Since Aug. 16, when move-in week kicked off, there have been 3,425 cases.

Heres a daily breakdown of tests and unique cases since students began reporting to campus in mid-August, according to the UIs COVID-19 dashboard:

The number of confirmed cases in Douglas County grew by 20 late Sunday, to 1,027.

Of those, 334 have come in the past 14 days. They're among 592 active cases or close contacts the Douglas County Health Department says it's monitoring.

How the new cases break down by age:

The 75 counties shaded in orange including Douglas and Vermilion are on the Illinois Department of Public Health's latest coronavirus warning level list, updated each Friday.

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Monday's coronavirus updates: 'The virus is winning the war right now,' Pritzker says; woman in her 100s is 15th to lose life in Vermilion; Fauci:...

President-elect Joe Biden in his victory speech on Saturday night vowed to get the pandemic under control. To all those who volunteered, worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local election officials you deserve a special thanks from this nation, he said. I will spare no effort or commitment to turn this pandemic around. Here are some of the other recent headlines from over the weekend and today you might have missed.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Monday that their coronavirus vaccine, which is receiving funding from the Trump administration, is more than 90% effective. Submission for emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [is] planned for soon after the required safety milestone is achieved, which is currently expected to occur in the third week of November, said the press release. The drug makers didnt formally join the administration's Operation Warp Speed, but received a contract from the Health and Human Services and Defense departments, as The Washington Post noted.

On Friday, FDA issued emergency use authorization for the first serology test that detects neutralizing antibodies from previous coronavirus infections. These antibodies bind to a specific part of a pathogen and have been observed in a laboratory setting to decrease [COVID-19] viral infection of cells, said the agency. Although the FDA has previously issued EUAs to more than 50 antibody (serology) tests, those tests only detect the presence of binding antibodies, which bind to a pathogen, such as a virus, but do not necessarily decrease the infection and destruction of cells...The effect of neutralizing antibodies for [COVID-19] in humans it is still being researched.

The FDA issued guidance on Monday about increasing diversity in clinical trials. We have seen these health care disparities, for example, during our fight against COVID-19, as certain segments of the population (e.g., older adults, pregnant women, children, and racial and ethnic minorities) are affected in different ways, FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said. This difference in impact illustrates why we must encourage developers of any medical product such as treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 as well as medical products more broadly to endeavor to include diverse populations to understand their risks or benefits across all groups.

White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported on Friday night. At least five other White House officials have since become infected, which includes Cassidy Hutchinson (close aide to Meadows), Charlton Boyd (aide to senior White House adviser and the presidents son-in-law Jared Kushner) and Nick Trainer (senior Trump campaign aide), according to Bloomberg.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson (who attended the election night party at the White House on Tuesday) also tested positive on Monday morning, ABC News reported.

Gen. Gus Perna, a four-star general who serves as the commanding general of the Armys Materiel Command and is chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, was interviewed on CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday about the logistical planning to distribute a coronavirus vaccine if and when one is approved. I hold myself 100% personally accountable if the distribution doesnt go according to plan,Perna said. Also, they are taking extraordinary precaution regarding security of the vaccine stockpile. Not only for maybe some nefarious effort but also natural [disasters] hurricanes, tornados, etc. right? It's such a commodity to us we're taking the full steps to make sure that the vaccine's secure.

The State Department told passport service employees who dont have high-risk health conditions to return to work by November 16, Federal News Network reported on Friday. The agency said that continued weather and safety leave would only be for those who have conditions listed in a survey administered on October 30. This comes as passport offices throughout the country have been gradually ramping up their passport processing after shuttering during the onset of the pandemic.

An employee in the State Departments cafeteria tested positive for coronavirus, so the kitchen is undergoing a deep clean, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Politico published a deep dive on Saturday about why Trump lost reelection, which stemmed from the coronavirus onset in February. Sir, regardless, this is coming. Its the only thing that could take down your presidency, said Brad Parscale, then-Trump campaign manager, according to the report based on interviews with 75 insiders. This fucking virus, Trump asked dismissively, according to a person with direct knowledge of the exchange, what does it have to do with me getting reelected? That was exactly the attitude Joe Biden expected from the president. And Biden saw his task as unambiguous.

A task force under the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a report on Friday about how the pandemic affected the global supply chain. Findings exposed how some manufacturing companies were unprepared because of their reliance on lean inventory models, underscored the difficulties that companies faced in understanding who their junior tier suppliers are and where they are located and acknowledged the need for an approach that was already underway over the last six years: diversifying supply chains to a broader array of locations and away from single source/single region suppliers, said CISA.

Steve Bannons lawyer quit on Friday after the former Breitbart News executive and White House chief strategist said on YouTube on Thursday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Christopher Wray, FBI director, should be beheaded as a warning to federal bureaucrats, The New York Times reported. This lawyer was defending him in federal court in Manhattan over fraud charges.

Todays GovExec Daily podcast episode is an update on the presidential transition and what to expect from President-elect Joe Biden on his management of the federal government and pandemic.

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.

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Coronavirus Roundup: Biden Will 'Spare No Effort' on Pandemic; Vaccine Candidate is Over 90% Effective - GovExec.com

This announcement would be Biden's first major decision after being projected to defeat President Trump, becoming the 46th president of the United States.

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to announce the members of his coronavirus task force on Monday, according to news reports.

They will be in charge of preparing a plan to curb the spread of the virus, according to CNBC. This announcement would come as the United States experiences a record spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19. On Friday, the US hit a record of 126,400 cases in a single day.

Axios, who first reported Biden's plan to announce a task force, said it will be led by three co-chairs, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith from Yale University. The report said there would be a total of 12 members on the team.

This announcement would be Biden's first major decision after he defeated President Donald Trump on Saturday to become the 46th president of the United States, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.

Biden won't be sworn into office until Jan. 20.

His work needs to begin right now. He needs to begin communicating the urgency of actions with the American people, Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner, told NBC in a phone interview. His biggest challenge is going to be getting people to follow his recommendations."

Throughout his campaign, Biden has contrasted Trump on the pandemic, arguing that the presidency and federal government exist for such crises. Unlike Trump, he doesnt believe the leading role in the virus response should belong to state governors, with the federal government in support.

Biden has also endorsed generous federal spending to help businesses and individuals, along with state and local governments, deal with the financial cliffs of the pandemic slowdown. Hes promised aggressive use of the Defense Production Act, the wartime law a president can use to direct manufacture of critical supplies. Trump has used that law on such things as ventilator production.

Biden promises to elevate the governments scientists and physicians to communicate a consistent message to the public, and he would have the United States rejoin the World Health Organization.

He has promised to use his transition period before taking office to convene meetings with every governor and ask them to impose what would be a nationwide mask mandate because the federal government doesn't have that power. Biden says he would go around holdouts by securing such rules from county and local officials though enforcement of all such orders may be questionable.

For most people, the new coronaviruscauses mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The United States has more than 9.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday, the U.S. had more than 236,000 deaths from the virus. Worldwide, there are more than 49 million confirmed cases with more than 1.2 million deaths.

Biden will unveil the group of scientists and experts to help him craft a plan to tackle the coronavirus pandemic on Monday.

Biden announced his plans to launch the COVID-19 task force during remarks at his victory party Saturday night. He said those advisers would help him take the proposals hes released during the campaign for dealing with the pandemic which include investments in personal protective equipment and loans for small businesses as well as plans to implement more standardized public health guidelines and turn those proposals into a blueprint that hell enact when inaugurated president next January.

Biden said the plan would be built on bedrock science and constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern. Biden made Trumps mishandling of the pandemic a central focus of his campaign and pledged that his top priority as president would be managing the virus.

Biden said that "our work begins with getting COVID under control," adding Americans cannot repair the economy, restore our economy or relish lifes most precious moments without doing so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Biden to announce COVID-19 task force Monday, reports say - KING5.com

Joe Biden speaks Saturday evening outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Joe Biden on Saturday vowed to work to unify the nation after a bitterly fought campaign against Donald Trump, telling Americans in a spirited victory speech that he would be a president for all.

I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unify, the former vice president said, who doesnt see red states and blue states, only sees the United States.

Biden was joined by his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, hours after the Associated Press and major U.S. networks called the race for the former vice president over President Trump. The pair spoke in Wilmington, Del.

Read: Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump to become 46th U.S. president

Harris, who will become the nations first female vice president, spoke before Biden and said voters had ushered in a new day for America.

You chose hope and unity, decency, science and, yes, truth, said the California Democrat, who began her speech by quoting the late civil-rights leader and congressman John Lewis. Harris will be the first woman, the first Black person and the first South Asian American to become vice president.

See: Why Kamala Harris as Americas first female vice president completely disrupts the status quo

Even as Biden and Harris spoke, Trump was contesting the election, alleging fraud in the results and promising to fight in court starting Monday. Experts have said, however, that there is no basis for his claims.

Now read: The next steps before Joe Biden is officially declared the 46th president of the United States

The Biden-Trump contest was fought amid the devastating blow dealt by the coronavirus to American workers and businesses, and Biden pledged to prioritize the fight against it.

Folks, our work begins with getting COVID under control. We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality, or relish lifes most precious moments all the moments that matter most to us, until we get it under control, he said.

Biden said he would on Monday name a group of scientists and experts to convert his pandemic-fighting plans into a blueprint for action after he is inaugurated.

As MarketWatch reports, analysts said U.S. stock prices SPX, -0.02% are poised to move higher in the wake of a declared winner and the end of election uncertainty.

Read: Heres what a Biden presidency spells for stocks, bonds and commodities

Bidens proposals will not automatically have an easy path in Congress, however. Senate control remains undecided but is likely to remain in Republican hands after a pair of runoffs in Georgia in January. A Republican Senate would throw up immediate obstacles to plans like a public option health-care plan and tax increases on corporations and wealthy Americans.

Read on: Democrats longshot bid to win back the Senate rides on a pair of Georgia Senate races

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Biden pledges to work for unity and combat the coronavirus in victory speech - MarketWatch

The update brings the states totals to more than 116,000 confirmed cases and 2,4319 deaths.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Washington set a new daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 1,777 new cases announced Saturday.

That number tops the previous record of almost 1,500 new COVID cases reported in a single day, which was the most the state had reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

The state Department of Health (DOH) warned that COVID-19 cases are spreading in the Puget Sound region. The update brings the states totals to more than 116,000 confirmed cases and 2,4319 deaths.

For most, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks, although long-term effects are unknown.

But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Earlier this week, State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy said, "We're going the wrong way fast," referring to a spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.

Local health officials are also sounding alarms about the growing number of cases.

On Friday, Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin for Public Health - Seattle and King County, said they're seeing increasing COVID-19 cases across all ages in the county, but predominantly among young and working age adults. He said 70% of the county's cases are in the 20- to 60-year-old age range.

We have reached a new peak, with approximately 308 new cases reported each day last week, Duchin said. Thats four-fold higher than late September, and over 100 cases per day more than the initial outbreak in the spring.

He said too many of the recent COVID-19 cases are related to community activities and travel, gatherings with friends and families, parties, weddings and visiting bars and restaurants.

Cases continue to accelerate in the wrong direction and its best to hit the brakes before we crash and not after, said Duchin. Too many of us are doing too much with too little consideration of the consequences of our actions on others. The risks of acquiring COVID-19 today is higher now than it has ever been.

Duchin said going into the holiday season, people need to be extremely vigilant and not let pandemic fatigue stop them from taking precautions, such as wearing masks, social distancing and limiting time indoors with others not in their immediate households.

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Washington sees another spike in new cases of coronavirus - KING5.com

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease specialist, was recently asked about the places he was most worried about overstressed hospitals and intensive care units.

Utah was the first state he mentioned.

Some of the states like Utah, Nevada, South Dakota, North Dakota, where they never had a pretty good reserve of intensive care beds and things like that, Fauci told The Washington Post. I hope theyll be OK, but its still a risk that, as you get more surging, theyre going to run out of capacity."

All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors," Fauci said. "You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.

Some patients are being treated in hallways of Utah hospitals. Others say when they call for a nurse, theres not one available to assist for a half hour. And while there are still some empty ICU beds, there are so many nurses who cant work due to their own infection or exposure to COVID-19, further exacerbating the problems.

This is all to say: what were doing isnt working. Hospitals are being overrun. People are dying more than ever before. Something has to change.

So what should we do? First, lets note that other states are going through a similar spike.

Those who want to make everything political will note that nearly all of these are red states. But to blame this on Republican policies isnt really looking at the whole picture, either. Look at politically-progressive Europe, where cases are also exploding:

Essentially, I dont find the political blame game particularly beneficial. Instead of focusing on where cases are exponentially rising, lets flip this around and look at where the runaway freight train was slowed or brought to a halt, and see if we can learn from the actions taken there.

Arizonas limited closures

They closed bars, gyms, water parks, and theaters.

They reduced restaurant capacity to 50%.

They didnt exactly mandate masks, but they allowed cities and counties to implement mask mandates counties covering 85% of Arizonas population went ahead with the mandate.

And afterward, Arizonas coronavirus cases declined quickly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used Arizonas example as a case study in government intervention gone right.

Utah has similar restrictions on restaurants and masks, but they havent gone so far as to close any businesses again, even businesses that have disobeyed the weak regulations already in place.

Quite frankly, the thing that may have worked best in Arizona was that the closure of businesses and overrunning of hospitals was a signal to people to take the issue seriously mask wearing went up in both mandated and non-mandated counties, and a larger percentage of people stayed home, according to Googles mobility data.

Heres how the closures impacted unemployment claims.

You can see a small bump around the same time as closures occurred, but interestingly, the filings sharply declined even as the four business types stayed closed and restaurant capacity was cut. Its hard to tease out correlation and causation with all of this data, of course was the unemployment bump due to the closures or the high number of cases, or both? But still, it doesnt appear that closing these high-risk industries wrecked Arizonas economy.

Belgiums relaxed lockdown

Belgium was also experiencing a huge spike, with 10,000 or even 20,000 cases a day in a country with 11.5 million inhabitants on a population basis, about the same as Utah having 2,700 to 5,500 cases per day. It was declared a state of emergency for their hospitals.

So Belgium instituted a relaxed lockdown:

Restaurants, bars, and nonessential stores were limited to takeout and delivery only. Salons, swimming pools, and zoos were told to close, but most businesses were allowed to stay open.

Teleworking was made compulsory whenever possible. Where teleworking is not possible, face masks and ventilation was made mandatory.

Schools were kept open for young students, made hybrid for secondary students, and pushed online-only for college students.

Churches were kept open too, but couldnt hold services. Funerals were capped at 15 people. People were allowed to hang out outside but in groups of four at most.

These rules are significantly less harsh than what occurred earlier in the pandemic. But its exactly what Belgium needed to turn the tide. The coronavirus case chart shows that the modified lockdown is working so far. That countrys cases have plummeted.

Belgiums approach is pretty data-driven and makes a lot of sense. Transmission rates are different among different age groups, so why are we treating schools the same? If business can occur over the internet, why shouldnt it? In general, the goal is to avoid groups of people getting together indoors, where the virus can spread easily.

Knuffelcontacts and support bubbles

I didnt tell you about my favorite Belgium rule, though:

Every person can designate one "knuffelcontact which literally translates to cuddle contact. That person is allowed to come over and knuffel (or not); only one knuffelcontact can be at a familys home at once. People living alone can designate two knuffelcontacts, but they cant both come over at the same time.

Look, I get it. The word knuffelcontact sounds ridiculous, and the idea may make you feel the same. Its all too easy to imagine a family debating which knuffelcontact can come over at a given time. But its an important consideration to make here: people need social life in order to not be depressed, and weve certainly seen depression spike during the pandemic.

As Gov. Gary Herbert noted during his news conference this week, being with non-relatives indoors is where a huge chunk of coronavirus growth is occurring. A knuffelcontact, or similar idea, meets people halfway: yes, stopping the virus is important, but were going to allow you this reasonable exception because we care about your well-being, too. Physical contact is important.

The Netherlands suggested that single people find a seksbuddy no translation needed for the same reason. England, however, called it a support bubble, and single-adult households could link up with other households for emotional support. If someone in the support bubble tests positive, everyone is instructed to follow the stay-at-home guidelines.

I understand that Americans arent used to this degree of government interference in their social lives frankly, there would probably be a revolt if this were implemented here. And yet, I want people to understand what effective coronavirus measures look like. Limiting social contacts is perhaps the single most important thing someone can do to prevent the spread.

Act quickly. Germanys response was perhaps the best in Europe, with surprisingly small numbers of cases and deaths. Many thanked their expansive contact tracing system. But as German scientist Christian Drosten explained at the World Health Summit, There are already speeches celebrating German success, but its not very clear where that comes from. We have moved with exactly the same measures as others. We didnt do anything particularly well, we just did it sooner.

Personal experience and effective messaging matters. Those with personal experience with a COVID-19 case and those who were concerned about COVID-19 infection were more likely to wash their hands than those who did not, according to a CDC study.

U.S. counties with a high social vulnerability scores had higher coronavirus cases than those with lower scores, according to a CDC study. In particular, rural counties in which housing was crowded defined as more people living in a home than the number of rooms were the worst off. Central and southeastern Utah are the areas of Utah with the highest social vulnerability scores. It is important to keep this in mind when allocating resources.

Faster testing. Africa is kicking our butts at this. Rwanda pools samples together to more quickly test them, then nails down individuals in followups. Senegal has mobile labs that can return results in as quickly as two hours, and are working on rapid tests that cost less than $1 that would get an answer back in 10 minutes. Last week, over 66% of coronavirus tests in Utah took more than 24 hours to come back with results; theres no excuse for that in a well-off state in the worlds richest country.

Im not sure if Im optimistic that these interventions will occur in Utah our state politicians acted very promptly in the first weeks of the pandemic, but have honestly lagged at every step of the way since. Im not sure if this was for political reasons, or because they really believed they were doing the right thing in taking only mild action. Herbert did say hes planning to try some new things soon, which will include mandatory testing for college students.

Regardless, the proof is in the pudding. The states current spike shows that our actions to this point have been insufficient, and the deaths this week are the cost of making poor choices. But there are steps we can take, models to follow. We can rebound.

Andy Larsen is a data columnist. He is also one of The Salt Lake Tribunes Utah Jazz beat writers. You can reach him at alarsen@sltrib.com.

Continued here:

Utah should learn from these places that have beat back huge coronavirus spikes - Salt Lake Tribune

Coronavirus seems to be spreading through small social gatherings, so Health Commissioner Thomas Farley highlighted three cases on Friday that show the potentially dangerous impact of gathering with people outside your household. The cases included a woman who attended a wedding, a woman who went to brunch with friends, and third woman who went to a funeral. In all cases, the women became infected with COVID-19 and exposed or infected at least one other person. In one case study, the spread led to a death. Read about those cases here.

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