Category: Corona Virus

Nearly half of Slovakias entire population took Covid-19 swabs on Saturday, the first day of a two-day nationwide testing drive the government hopes will help reverse a surge in infections without a hard lockdown.

The scheme, a first for a country of Slovakias size, is being watched by other nations looking for ways to slow the virus spread and avoid overwhelming their health systems.

The defence minister, Jaroslav Na said on Sunday 2.58 million Slovaks had taken a test on Saturday, and 25,850 or 1% tested positive and had to go into quarantine.

The EU country has a population 5.5 million and aims to test as many people as possible, except for children under 10.

More than 40,000 medics and support teams of soldiers, police, administrative workers and volunteers staffed about 5,000 sites to administer the antigen swab tests. The testing was free and voluntary, but the government has said it will impose a lockdown on those who do not participate, including a ban on going to work.

The prime minister, Igor Matovi, apologised for putting pressure on people to take part, but said the requirement was justified. Freedom must go together with responsibility toward those who ... are the weakest among us, oncology patients, old people, people with other diseases, he told a news conference.

Slovakia had relatively few cases in the spring and summer after swiftly imposing restrictions. But infections have soared in recent weeks, raising concerns the country may follow the Czech Republic, which has the highest two-week death rate in Europe.

The scheme has faced opposition from some experts who doubted it made sense as an one-off measure, or pointed to the antigen tests used, which are less accurate than the laboratory PCR tests and may thus return more false negatives and false positives.

The government is planning a second round of testing next weekend.

On Sunday, Slovakia reported 2,282 new cases through PCR tests, putting the total at 59,946, not including those identified in the nationwide scheme, and 219 deaths to date.

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Half of Slovakia's population tested for coronavirus in one day - The Guardian

FITCHBURG (CBS) The Fitchburg Health Department announced Sunday that nearly 150 coronavirus cases have been connected to church services and programs at Crossroads Church on or around Oct. 18.

Contract tracers have also identified more than 40 COVID-19 cases related to ice and deck hockey, the health department said.

The FHD has concerns that many cases are asymptomatic. This is particularly dangerous as it may be contributing to further spread of COVID-19, in the community, a statement said.

There will be a free coronavirus testing popup site Tuesday at the Coggshall Park Stonehouse from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees are asked to use the 165 Electic Ave. entrance.

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Nearly 150 Coronavirus Cases Connected To Church Services In Fitchburg - CBS Boston

Each week since August, a team of LSU researchers suit up in protective gear as they collect and inspect wastewater samples beneath campus living halls with the hopes of spotting microscopic coronavirus samples that could indicate a potential outbreak.

With less than a quarter-cup of liquid that looks like dirty water, theyve at times detected thousands of viral particles people shed when they go to the bathroom around campus, as well as broader testing in parts of Baton Rouge.

LSU student leaders are calling for mandatory coronavirus testing among students in a push to allow for student organizations to safely hold e

Its a time-consuming process, often taking at least two days to deliver results. But it has provided an early alert and greater ability to find and isolate people before they spread the virus to others.

Some people don't have symptoms, and some people just don't go to the doctor, and when they get tested it's a week later," said Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor John Pardue, who is collaborating with the school of veterinary medicine to sample wastewater. "It's helping the state and city understand the virus."

The process of using wastewater has become a growing trend for colleges like LSU across the nation, which brought students back to classrooms and campuses after the pandemic forced them to shut down this spring.

Some schools have struggled to keep the virus at bay, forcing them to revert to online classes. LSU school leaders say the wastewater monitoring is among the tools they're using to keep students on campus while limiting the risk of spread.

Since students returned to campus in August, some 1,150 students and 66 employees have contracted the coronavirus out of roughly 39,000 people, according to the schools online dashboard as of Friday. More than 10,650 people have been tested in that time.

Louisiana's efforts to fight the coronavirus particularly mask-wearing and social distancing are saving lives, a top White House health of

School leaders say wastewater monitoring gives an early opportunity to catch the virus because it can detect an infection days before symptoms like a high fever or cough show up.

Younger, healthier people -- like most college students -- tend to have mild symptoms when theyre sickened by the virus, compared to older adults and those with underlying health problems. Some never develop symptoms at all but can still spread the virus to others through respiratory droplets from coughing, sneezing, talking and sometimes breathing.

"They could go spread it to someone else who might have a worst case," Pardue said.

People also shed virus particles through their feces when they go to the bathroom, making wastewater testing a non-intrusive means to measure the level of virus in a given area.

Pardue said he was surprised at how well the system worked with just a small amount of water tested, as well as how closely it appeared to mirror reporting done by the state Department of Health.

To get a clearer picture of how many people have the novel coronavirus in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LSU and Tulane researchers are studying

Within two weeks of the governor issuing a statewide mandate on face coverings, his team observed a significant drop in coronavirus cases. They also observed trends mirroring state data when new cases surged this summer, as well as "blips" when students returned to college campuses and schools, Pardue said.

The testing does have its limits, however.

Because the water is collected from several sources, including multiple showers, sinks and toilets, its difficult to determine the exact number of cases a dorm or apartment may have. But of the four or five times the wastewater team has found signs of infections, as well as warning signs from the schools symptom tracker, all students living in a dorm or apartment are required to get tested.

Similar, wider tests, LSU is conducting for East Baton Rouge Parish also arent able to pinpoint the exact area of infections. But they have given early warning signs that cases may be rising as samples are collected at southern and northern parts of the parish.

The parish soon plans to add five additional wastewater testing sights that will allow them to hone in on specific neighborhoods and subdivisions that may be experiencing high levels of infections.

We expect this virus to be around for the next few years, so itll be useful for some time, said the mayor's spokesman Mark Armstrong.

Instead of simply reporting how many coronavirus cases have been found in Louisiana nursing homes, the state also began reporting Wednesday th

Parish Environmental Director Richard Speer said he hopes to include the results from the added test sites on the parish's online dashboard, but so far hasn't made any direct policy decisions based on data LSU has collected.

Virus samples found wastewater have dropped in recent weeks, as have new positive cases in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to data collected by the Louisiana Department of Health and LSU researchers.

Recently, researchers even recorded no new cases for the first time since they started testing city wastewater, Pardue said.

When you're seeing high levels of virus, you realize there's a lot of people in the city who are sick or shedding it, he said while recalling this summer's spike. I'm glad we haven't seen those numbers go up very high again.

Long-lasting effects on health feared

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LSU researchers have been testing wastewater for coronavirus. Here's what they found. - The Advocate

Thefifth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place onThursday, 29 October 2020 from 12:30to16:05 Geneva time (CEST).

The Director-General welcomed the Committee, highlighted global advances and challenges in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, and expressed his appreciation to the Committee for their continued support and advice.

Representatives of the legal department and the Department of Compliance, Risk Management, and Ethics (CRE) briefed the members on their roles and responsibilities. The Ethics Officer from CRE provided the Members and Advisers with an overview of the WHO Declaration of Interest process. The Members and Advisers were made aware of their individual responsibility to disclose to WHO, in a timely manner, any interests of a personal, professional, financial, intellectual or commercial nature that may give rise to a perceived or direct conflict of interest. They were additionally reminded of their duty to maintain the confidentiality of the meeting discussions and the work of the committee. Each member who was present was surveyed and no conflicts of interest were identified.

The Secretariat turned the meeting over to the Chair, Professor Didier Houssin. Professor Houssin also welcomed the Committee and reviewed the objectives and agenda of the meeting.

The WHO Assistant Directors-General for Emergency Response and for Emergency Preparedness and International Health Regulations provided an overview of the current context and an update on the implementation of the 1 August 2020 Temporary Recommendation. WHO continues to assess the global risk level of the COVID-19 pandemic as very high.

The Committee expressed strong appreciation for WHOs leadership and activities throughout the global response. In particular, the Committee appreciated WHOs critical role in developing evidence-based guidance and recommendations; providing countries with technical assistance and operational support; communicating clear information and addressing misinformation; and convening the Solidarity Trials and the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. The Committee commended WHOs sustained efforts to strengthen national, regional, and global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After ensuing discussion, the Committee unanimously agreed that the pandemic still constitutes an extraordinary event, a public health risk to other States through international spread, and continues to require a coordinated international response. As such, the Committee considered the COVID-19 pandemic to remain a public health emergency of international concern and offered advice to the Director-General.

The Director-General determined that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committees advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR (2005).

The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months, at the discretion of the Director-General. The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work.

2. Provide States Parties with a mechanism including templates and processes to report on national progress in implementing the temporary recommendations; collect, analyze, and provide regular updates to the Committee on this progress.

Evidence-Based Response Strategies3. Continue to provide evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 readiness and response. This guidance should include sustainable long-term response strategies, mitigation approaches for different levels of transmission, refined indicators for risk management and pandemic response, a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of public health and social measures for COVID-19 response, and lessons learned including from intra-action reviews.

Research4. Continue to convene multi-disciplinary experts to agree on consistent language for and to further explain: all potential modes of transmission and virulence of SARS-CoV-2; severity risk factors and epidemiology of COVID-19; and the striking diversity of the pandemic dynamics globally.

5. Continue intersectoral collaborations to understand the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the role/impact of animals, and provide regular updates on international research findings.

6. Continue to work with partners to refine mathematical models that can inform policy decisions on how best to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

Surveillance and Contact Tracing7. Continue to work with partners and networks to provide guidance, tools, and trainings to support countries in strengthening their robust public health surveillance, comprehensive contact tracing, and cluster investigation.

8. Encourage and support countries to understand and report on their epidemiological situation and relevant indicators including through leveraging existing influenza sentinel surveillance systems for COVID-19.

Risk communications and community engagement9. Continue to work with partners to counter the ongoing infodemic and provide guidance on community mobilization to support effective public health and social measures.

Diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines10. Continue to support development of and equitable access to diagnostics, safe and effective therapeutics and vaccines, through the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator; continue to work with all ACT Accelerator partners to provide countries with additional clarity on the processes to enable equitable and timely access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, including in humanitarian settings.

11. Accelerate support to enhance countries readiness for COVID-19 vaccine introduction by providing guidance, tools, and technical assistance for critical areas such as vaccination strategies, vaccine acceptance and demand, training, supply and logistics with a focus on cold chain, and monitoring uptake and vaccine safety.

Health Measures in Relation to International Traffic12. Continue to work with partners to update and review evidence-based guidance for international travel consistent with IHR (2005) provisions. This guidance should focus on effective, risk-based, and coherent approaches (including targeted use of diagnostics and quarantine) that consider transmission levels, response capacities in origin and destination countries, and relevant travel-specific considerations.

Essential Health Services13. Work with partners to support countries in strengthening their essential health services, with a particular focus on mental health, public health prevention and control systems, and other societal impacts, as well as preparing for and responding to concurrent outbreaks, such as seasonal influenza. Special attention should continue to be provided to vulnerable settings.

2. Report to WHO on progress in implementing the Temporary Recommendations, particularly major achievements, milestones, and obstacles. This information will empower countries, WHO, partners, and the Committee to continue to make informed decisions as the pandemic evolves.

Evidence-Based Response Strategies3. Avoid politicization or complacency with regards to the pandemic response which negatively impact local, national, regional, and global response efforts. National strategies and localized readiness and response activities should be driven by science, data, and experience and should engage and enable all sectors using a whole-of-society approach.

4. Implement a dynamic risk management approach using appropriate indicators to inform time-limited, evidence-based public health and social measures.

Research5. Conduct research and share information on transmission, including role of aerosols; presence and potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 in animal populations; and potential sources of contamination (such as frozen products) to mitigate potential risks through preventative measures and international cooperation.

Surveillance and Contact Tracing6. Sustain efforts to strengthen public health surveillance systems and investments in a trained workforce for active case finding, comprehensive contact tracing, and cluster investigations.

7. Continue timely and consistent reporting to WHO, including through platforms such as GISRS, on all recommended indicators for COVID-19 epidemiology and severity, response measures, and concurrent outbreaks, to enhance global understanding of the pandemics evolution.

Risk Communications and Community Engagement8. Engage and empower individuals and communities to strengthen confidence in the COVID-19 response and promote sustained adherence to public health and social measures underpinned by the principles of solidarity and human rights; monitor and address rumours and misinformation.

Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Vaccines9. Establish a national multi-disciplinary taskforce, assess progress using the COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool (VIRAT), and prepare the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan, which can serve as the holistic operational plan for COVID-19 vaccine introduction. A strong emphasis should be placed on communication with communities to prepare for COVID-19 vaccination.

Health Measures in Relation to International Traffic10. Regularly re-consider measures applied to international travel in compliance with Article 43 of the IHR (2005) and continue to provide information and rationales to WHO on measures that significantly interfere with international traffic. Ensure that measures affecting international traffic (including targeted use of diagnostics and quarantine) are risk-based, evidence-based, coherent, proportionate and time limited.

11. Continue to strengthen capacity at points of entry to manage potential risks of cross-border transmission and to facilitate international contact tracing.

Essential Health Services12. Maintain essential health services with sufficient funding, supplies, and human resources; strengthen health systems to cope with mental health impacts of the pandemic, concurrent disease outbreaks, and other emergencies.

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Statement on the fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)...

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses supporters at a campaign rally outside Raymond James Stadium on October 29, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.

Paul Hennessey | NurPhoto | Getty Images

President Donald Trump's campaign rallies led to more than 30,000 coronavirus cases, according to a new paper posted by researchers at Stanford.

Researchers looked at 18 Trump rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 22 and analyzed Covid-19 data the weeks following each event. They compared the counties where the events were held to other counties that had a similar trajectory of confirmed Covid-19 cases prior to the rally date. Out of the 18 rallies analyzed, only three were indoors, according to the research.

The researchers found that the rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. They also concluded that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths, though not necessarily among attendees.

The researchers said the findings support the warnings and recommendations of public health officials concerning the risk of Covid-19 transmission at large group gatherings, "particularly when the degree of compliance with guidelines concerning the use of masks and social distancing is low."

"The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death," said B. Douglas Bernheim, chairman of Stanford's economics department and a lead author of the paper, wrote.

The paper, which has not undergone a peer review yet, was published on open access preprint platform SSRN.

In response to the paper, Trump campaign spokesperson Courtney Parellasaid, "Americans have the right to gather under the First Amendment to hear from the President of the United States."

"We take strong precautions for our campaign events, requiring every attendee to have their temperature checked, providing masks they're instructed to wear, and ensuring access to plenty of hand sanitizer. We also have signs at our events instructing attendees to wear their masks," she added.

A spokesperson for Joe Biden's campaign issued a statement after the paper posted, saying, Trump is "costing hundreds of lives and sparking thousands of cases with super spreader rallies that only serve his own ego."

"The worst part is that this doesn't even capture Trump's many superspreader events on White House grounds or the last five weeks of events across the country. How many more lives have been upended in that time? How many more empty seats are there at kitchen tables across America because of Donald Trump's ego?" spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

The researchers said they had to overcome "significant challenges," acknowledging that the dynamics of Covid-19 are "complex," and "even the most superficial examination of the data reveals that the process governing the spread of Covid-19 differs across counties."

The new research comes as the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread across the United States. The U.S. continued to set new highs for infections this week, with Friday marking a record 99,321 daily new cases, bringing the seven-day average of daily new cases to a new high at 78,738, a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University showed.

Trump has often been criticized for holding in-person rallies, sometimes with tens of thousands of people, during a pandemic. He has sought to downplay the virus, often tying the increase in Covid-19 cases to more testing. But public health officials and infectious disease experts dispute that claim, saying the rate of tests that come back positive and hospitalizations are also on the rise.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said Friday that the U.S. is reporting an "extremely high and quite unacceptable" daily number of cases ahead of the winter season when people will be spending more time indoors.

"We're in a precarious position over the next several weeks to months," Fauci toldSiriusXM's"Doctor Radio Reports," calling on people to continue wearing face masks, social distance and spend time outdoors over indoors as much as possible.

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Trump campaign rallies led to more than 30,000 coronavirus cases, Stanford researchers say - CNBC

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The US has suffered its worst week for new infections of the entire Covid-19 pandemic just days ahead of the election, underscoring what some epidemiologists described as life and death stakes as Americans head to the polls.

Scientists have sounded alarms about unabated Covid-19 spread across the midwest, a spread that has the potential to create even more devastation this winter if nothing is done to control the virus. And political divisions are fueling the surge.

There were so many red flags early on that made us vulnerable from day one, said Natalia Linos, a social epidemiologist who ran in a Democratic primary in Massachusetts this fall and is executive director of the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. We were worried, and it showed from day one this has been a political failure.

As key swing states such as Wisconsin are experiencing crisis levels of Covid-19 infections people have been driven people further into their camps, said Katherine J Cramer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker.

Theres still very strong support for President Trump here, and I think among his supporters they think hes done a great job handling the pandemic, said Cramer. Then, the opposite is the case for people who are leaning toward Joe Biden, she said about the Democratic presidential candidate.

This week marked the worst week in terms of new infections of the entirety of the pandemic in the US, breaking 500,000 new cases for the first time, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

More tests are coming back positive in 47 states, and hospitalizations are climbing in 39 states. More than 1,000 people are dying a day on average, but deaths have not risen as fast as new cases, because they are considered a lagging indicator. It often takes weeks between a positive test, hospitalization, death and reporting for victims of Covid-19.

A number of coalescing forces could cause dramatic increases in deaths in the coming months, although they are far from inevitable. Scientists believe deaths have not risen in direct correlation with new cases for a few reasons.

First, more young people, who are more resilient to the disease, are getting infected. Second, clinicians have found ways to modestly reduce mortality through treatment. Last, and most importantly, hospitals are not yet as overwhelmed as they were at the start of the pandemic.

However, if politicians resist enacting containment measures or people refuse to follow them, the virus will spread, and could overwhelm hospitals. Key industries such as nursing homes are again warning of shortages of personal protective equipment, especially nitrile gloves. Further, government watchdogs said the Trump administration is woefully behind in stocking gloves necessary to mitigate spread.

When scientists say this is life or death this election it really is. And its not life and death equally for everyone, said Linos. One in 10 white Americans know someone who has died of Covid, and one in three black Americans do. That is unfair, unjust and my biggest worry.

Even as cases have increased to record numbers, politicians have shown little political will for more lockdowns. In El Paso, Texas, a local judge declared a two-week lockdown, which was then declared unlawful by the states attorney general.

In Wisconsin the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, has framed Covid-19 as an urgent crisis but described containment measures as a self-imposed lockdown, according to local news station WMTV.

Meanwhile, Trump has held multiple in-person rallies, playing up the threat of lockdowns while also helping spread the virus.

Bidens cruel and senseless lockdowns would cause countless deaths from suicide and from all of the problems we have, Trump told supporters in West Salem, Wisconsin last week. People lose their jobs. They lose their jobs.

That is a potent message for supporters, many of whom blame lockdowns (rather than the virus) for devastating local economies.

People perceive that President Trump has been something of a hero in saying, this has to come to an end, and we have to get people back to work, said Cramer. With respect to freedom and employment, people think hes done the right thing.

What is certain is the race will turn on Covid-19. Six in 10 voters consider it a very big problem, facing the country. An overwhelming majority of Democrats feel lockdowns were lifted too soon, while a majority of Republicans feel lockdowns were not lifted soon enough, according to a recent analysis of polls in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Were all so focused on the election but the biggest challenges are in front of us, said Cramer. The challenge will be how we actually come together as a state and as a country to deal with this pandemic.

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Americans go to the polls as US suffers worst week for coronavirus infections - The Guardian

While the rest of the country is reporting only a handful of daily cases -- with most of those imported -- Xinjiang has this week recorded dozens of new infections. On Thursday, the region reported 14 new cases, taking its total active caseload to 197, according to China's National Health Commission.

"The local government and Xinjiang at large launched emergency responses immediately, with medical teams and work teams in and outside of Xinjiang sent to the county and the prefecture for support," state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Xinjiang outbreak has raised eyebrows, however, given the heavy surveillance and security prevalent in the region, and the drastic response the government enacted earlier this year.

Despite this, and despite much of the rest of the country avoiding renewed outbreaks, Kashgar has seen infections spread quickly, mainly through a garment factory in Shufu County's Zhanmin Township where the teenage patient's parents work.

Adrian Zenz, a leading expert on the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang, said the factory at the heart of the latest outbreak was emblematic of those used for "coercive labor training," a purported poverty alleviation program targeting "so-called rural surplus laborers."

Zenz said that while the "poverty alleviation" program was technically separate from the internment camps and the forced labor system, many such factories also took advantage of workers from the camps, "making it virtually impossible to distinguish labor involving higher coercion from that potentially involving less coercion."

"Xinjiang has so many facilities that pack together people in crammed spaces and facilities, from prisons to detention centers to re-education camps to factories," Zenz told CNN. "The factories especially are a setting where diseases are hard to control, because you have an even greater flow of persons."

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China's most-controlled region is facing the country's biggest coronavirus outbreak in months - CNN

MILAN A 54-year-old nurse became convinced the coronavirus hated her during the first seven months of Italys outbreaks. Those are Cristina Settembreses words for it.

Settembrese, who specializes in treating patients with infectious diseases, faced huge risks during the long hours she spent in close contact with sick and dying COVID-19 patients. She was careful to scale her precautions to match and always tested negative despite getting exposed multiple times.

The nurses encounters with the coronavirus started Feb. 21, the day Italys first domestic cases were confirmed in the countrys north. Nurses and doctors were among the newly infected, so Settembrese immediately volunteered to care for people in Codogno, home to Italys patient zero and just an hours drive away from where she worked at Milans San Paolo Hospital.

Soon, her own hospital was under siege as the virus spread in the Lombardy region, its first foothold beyond Asia. Settembrese, a single mother, immediately sent her 24-year-old daughter to live with her parents. Alone at home, the nurse slept on the couch, partly to be ready in case she was called in to work, partly as a response to a trauma that took her by surprise.

When case numbers finally decreased and her hospital emptied of COVID-19 patients, she found it hard to share the relief she observed in other people, those who had not seen the trauma of her ward. On a short summer break, she saw the virus' fall return in the unmasked faces of fellow vacationers. And her worry grew.

Still, the resurgence came quicker -- and earlier -- than even Settembrese feared. This week alone, the number of cases in her hospital surged by one-third. It also showed up closer to home.

Here, in her words, is her journey through the pandemic, so far.

By August, we had no more admissions for COVID. We had almost a month without any cases. And from September, instead we started to see again some pneumonia, then some patients with COVID, still not serious cases, and we closed the ward for patients with meningitis, tuberculosis, our usual patients. ... Then as the cases increased and the hospital admissions went up, the pneumonia got more aggressive, forcing them to reopen the intensive ward upstairs. The switch has happened: The virulence is much stronger, and we see it in the patients.

I can say on a numeric level, the numbers have soared. ... Nurses have been recalled from the wards they had gone back to. We are calling them back to help us, because alone we cannot keep up. There are just a few of us, and we cannot keep up with people who are wearing helmets (to assist breathing).

"I am experiencing this very badly. I didnt honestly expect to. I cried a lot, four months ago, I cried really a lot. I lost many young people, who I still carry with me. I hadnt yet overcome these deaths. ... All of us nurses, we are feeling a psychological damage. I am experiencing this as a second wave, and I think we still have seen nothing.

"There are not the terrible deaths this time. Now, with the treatments, you manage to avoid these intensive therapies. We have found a pseudo-palliative treatment, lets say. We know how to manage the cases better.

But I am experiencing it inside exactly like before. For us, it is like reliving a nightmare.

"I had seven or eight days of vacation and I joined my mother in Riccione (on the Adriatic Sea), and I was an alien. I was seeing everyone without masks, this beach full of people. Crowds in the bars. And the only ones with masks were the Lombards, and the others, all without.

I told them all off. It was as if I was in a frenzy. I would say, Move apart and put on the masks. I was extremely worried. I would watch and think about October, and I would say to my mother and daughter, With the free-for-all that is happening, we will be facing disaster. Everyone told me I was an alarmist, even friends. I told them: I am not an alarmist. I have worked in the infectious diseases ward for 12 years, and the virus will return. Because all viruses return in October. And this one wont be missing, for sure.

"This young man still pulls at my heart. It is a terrible, terrible story. He was a 42-year-old guy. When he arrived, he was in pretty good shape, then we had to intubate him, with the anesthesiologist. I held his hands, and he said, Cristina, swear to me that I will wake up, because I have two small children. And to help him go to sleep calmly, I promised him. It is a promise I could not keep, because after four or five days, the patient died. I was a mess. I am still carrying this.

Often, when I go into a room, I see the people who were there before. All the beds have faces. They have faces that I remember. Sometimes I have nightmares, I am not ashamed to say. I am having flashbacks that are heavy psychologically. ... I still cannot go to sleep in a bed because I associate it with illness, something I never felt in 35 years working as a nurse. Slowly, I will get over it. But I have been sleeping on the sofa since March. I cannot get in a bed.

"The other day I was destroyed, as if I had spent the whole day doing backbreaking work in the fields. When I couldnt smell or taste anything, I went and got tested. Damn! I can say I am positive, but I dont have major symptoms. I dont have a fever, just some coughing and aches everywhere, like a terrible, terrible flu.

In the end, the virus doesnt hate me. My defenses were down. I worked too many hours, always wearing a mask and maintaining a distance. I have no idea where I got it. Now my daughter, who came here a few times to eat between shifts, has a fever, with a headache. She had a test yesterday. I am very worried, and feel very guilty.

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press

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Italian nurse on coronavirus duty sees the nightmare return - Tampa Bay Times

President Trump's Coronavirus Response Has Saved Over 2 Million Lives and Outperformed Other Nations  Whitehouse.gov

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President Trump's Coronavirus Response Has Saved Over 2 Million Lives and Outperformed Other Nations - Whitehouse.gov

CHICAGO The city and state saw grim milestones Friday: Chicago has now had more than 100,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, while the state broke yet another high for the most cases reported in one day.

Coronavirus has killed 36 more Illinoisans, the state announced Friday. Among the victims were six people from Cook County, including a man in his 40s. At least 9,711 people in Illinois have been killed by COVID-19.

The state also reported a record-high of 6,943 new confirmed cases, bringing the total up to 402,401 for Illinois. The previous record was set only the day before.

The states seven-day positivity rate rose to 7.3 percent up from 6.9 percent the day before with a record 95,111 tests reported. The figure represents total confirmed cases divided by total tests.

Illinois is also now reporting its seven-day test positivity, which measures how many tests were positive out of total tests. As of Friday, its at 8.5 percent, up from 8.2 percent Thursday.

As of Thursday night, 3,092 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 673 people in the ICU and 288 people using ventilators.

In Chicago, 1,507 new confirmed cases and two deaths from COVID-19 were reported. At least 3,068 Chicagoans have died from the virus and there have been 100,952 confirmed cases.

An average of 841 cases are being reported and three people are dying per day in Chicago.

The citys seven-day test positivity is at 8.1 percent.

Cases are rising and hospitalizations are rising in Chicago and deaths will soon begin to rise, as well, the citys health chief, Dr. Allison Arwady has said.

Officials have said most of Chicagos spread is happening in small gatherings of family and friends, often at home. But theres also been spread at restaurants and bars statewide, and the ban on indoor dining and drinking at restaurants and bars started Friday morning for Chicago.

Officials have said its possible this new, second wave of coronavirus will be even worse than what Chicago experienced in the spring.

Arwady urged Chicagoans to stop seeing people and inviting them home to slow the viruss spread and prevent more cases and deaths.

We need to turn this around and then, just like we were able to a month ago, well be able to move back toward reopening, Arwady said at a Friday morning news conference.

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Chicago Hits 100K Confirmed Coronavirus Cases, And Illinois Breaks Another Record For New Cases - Block Club Chicago