Category: Corona Virus

Fully work-from-home has worked for corporate America as a temporary solution to the coronavirus pandemic, but top executives at some of the largest companies say their firms are still working out what the new employee normal will be, and burnout is a big risk.

"The myth that work from home is not productive has been busted," said Harmit Singh, CFO at Levi Strauss & Co. at a recent CNBC @Work virtual event. "I believe we will settle into a culture where working from anywhere will be the new norm, with work from homeor office or a hybrid arrangement."

Levi Strauss "pulled the plug" on any new commercial real estate it was exploring this year, the CFO said, as it attempts to figure out what the new workplace structure will look like, and that includes concerns about productivity declines.

"Employee burnout is a core issue," Singh said.

Changes to work scheduling that Levi Strauss already has made to mitigate this productivity challenge include a mandate that meetings be shorter, that no meetings be scheduled on Fridays, and making the last Friday of every month a day off.

"I believe we will go through a second wave of team member or employee duress," Schuyler said. "The first wave was when the crisis first hit us in the spring, and the second is settling in ... and it will be longer term," he said.

With schools back in session and parents having to balance many needs of school-age children, "the second wave of duress is gonna hit and it is causing lower productivity," the Hilton CHRO said. "With the isolation from work from home, we can expect to see more of it," he added. "Keeping the workforce connected remotely was sustainable for a period of time, but it is harder as it goes on."

Senior human resources and financial executives say work will be hybrid, with both work from home and some return to offices part of a new normal, and figuring out how to relieve employee stress and isolation are top concerns.

Clara Margais | picture alliance via Getty Images

Schuyler said Hilton is looking at ways to engage not just virtually, but get offices reopened to safely engage in person, and as a lodging company, the problem is at the property level as well. since it is reopening across 6,200 properties around the world and that includes dynamics likes employees delivering hospitality at a local level while wearing personal protective equipment.

"Employee well-being matters and we are learning as we go," Schuyler said.

Hilton is surveying its workers more than ever before to gather feedback, as often as on an hourly basis.

Both Levi Strauss and Hilton have been forced to make layoffs.Levi Strauss announced in July it was cutting about 15% of its global corporate workforce, impacting about 700 jobs. Hilton laid off 22% of its corporate staff in June.

The accelerating digitization of corporate spending is not only focused on the consumer experience.

Schuyler said its threshold in managing through a crisis was to start by protecting its core, and in hospitality, the core is people. From a financial perspective, the lodging company had to make tradeoffs and invest where it can receive the highest return from its people, and that ranges from operations being completely suspended to those that are just reopening, and how to reopen more efficiently. That requires leveraging the acceleration of technology for bothwork-from-home employees and the guest experience from booking to the property-level using technology in a touchless way, "socially distanced hospitality delivery."

Levi Strauss, which cut its overall spending plan from $200 million to $150 million, made cuts related to opening new stores and maintenance,while it pivoted spending to digitization of consumer experience, AI, and connecting with employees. Digital investments included support for buying online and picking up in stores, shipping from stores, ideas that went from being in the pre-Covid pipeline for future years toto being rolled out in months, according to Singh, but also included spending on digitization of employees working remotely.

"It is clear these are changes that will be here for the long term," Singh said.

Major companies are taking divergent approaches in the current uncertain environment.

Alphabet said this week that it will lean in to a hybrid work model as most of its employees dont want to come in every day.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recently said working from home is "a pure negative"but a return to the office for the majority of employees won't happen until there is a vaccine.

Wall Street firms including JP Morgan are having key employees such as traders return to the office, but already facing Covid-19 cases and was forced to send workers home again.

For now, the days of six-month plans, annual plans, or plans even longer than that, are "gone," according to the Levi Strauss CFO. "We're uncertain about timing of a vaccine and it is not even one crisis. We've had crisis after crisis ... the pandemic and recession and social injustice and fires and floods."

For more on tech, transformation and the future of work, join the most influential voices disrupting the next decade of work at the nextCNBC @Work Summitthis October.

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A second coronavirus wave is coming of 'employee duress': Hilton's top HR executive - CNBC

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Nine Ohio counties are now under red alert in the states coronavirus advisory system, with Cuyahoga County continuing a step lower at orange for the the sixth consecutive week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday.

The red counties because of growing or lingering COVID-19 spread include the addition of five this week - Ashland, Delaware, Pike, Scioto and Stark. Four others remain there from the previous week - Butler, Mercer, Montgomery and Putnam.

A week ago there were five red counties, the lowest number since DeWine introduced the four-level advisory system July 2. Red is considered a Level 3 public emergency because of very high exposure and spread. Purple is the highest level, a step above red, but no county yet has been placed on Level 4 purple alert.

The red counties last week were Butler, Mercer, Montgomery, Putnam and Portage, with the governor at the time blaming off-campus gatherings around Kent State for the increased infections that led to Portage County being on that list. Portage dropped back down to orange in this weeks update, meeting three of the states seven criteria for concern.

Cuyahoga County on July 2 started out on red and stayed there until dropping to Level 2 orange on Aug. 20.

Case numbers have improved dramatically for Cuyahoga County, but not enough to drop to Level 1 yellow. For the fifth straight week, Cuyahoga has been flagged for two of the seven areas of concern. That needs to drop to one to go to yellow.

For new cases in the last two weeks, one of the criteria that has kept Cuyahoga in orange, Cuyahoga has dropped from 139.4 cases per 100,000 in the July 30 update to 54.6 this week. Yet it needs to be below 50 for a county not to be flagged for this measure. Fifty-two of the 88 counties are at 50 cases per 100,000 or above.

The other area where Cuyahoga County has been flagged regularly is for more than 50% of its new cases being outside congregate living areas, such as nursing home, in at least one of the last three weeks.

Like Cuyahoga, nearly every county in the state was flagged for not staying below this threshold. Seventy-nine of the states 88 counties currently are flagged this.

Cuyahoga County was flagged for meeting two of seven coronavirus-concern measures this week, keeping the county at orange alert. The number of indicators must drop to one before a county is assigned the lower yellow alert.Ohio Department of Health

This week there are 32 yellow counties statewide, and 47 in orange.

In the Greater Cleveland area, Cuyahoga and Portage are joined in orange by Lorain and Summit counties. Yellow this week are Geauga, Lake and Medina counties

See the chart at the bottom of the story for how each Ohio county graded.

Each county is graded on seven criteria. Meeting none or one of the criteria places a county on Level 1 yellow; two or three on Level 2 orange; four or five on Level 3 red; and six or seven on Level 4 purple. No county has ever been placed on purple alert.

* 1. New cases - Alert triggered when there are 50 new cases per cases 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.

* 2. Increase in new cases - Alert triggered by an increase in cases for five straight days at any point over the last three weeks. This is based on the date of onset of symptoms, not when the cases are reported.

* 3. Non-congregate living cases - Alert triggered when at least 50% of the new cases in one of the last three weeks have occurred in outside congregate living spaces such as nursing homes and prisons.

* 4. Emergency rooms - Alert triggered when there is an increase in visits for COVID-like symptoms or a diagnosis for five straight days at any point in the last three weeks.

* 5. Doctor visits - Alert triggered when there is an increase in out-patient visits resulting in confirmed cases or suspected diagnosis for COVID-19 for five straight days at any point in the last three weeks.

* 6. Hospitalizations - Alert triggered when there is an increase in new COVID-19 patients for five straight days at any point over the last three weeks. This is based on the county or residence, not the location of the hospital.

* 7. Intensive Care Unit occupancy - Alert triggered when ICU occupancy in a region exceeds 80% of total ICU beds and at least 20% of the beds are being used for coronavirus patients for at least three days in the last week.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

Here is how each Ohio county graded this week in Gov. Mike DeWine's coronavirus alert system.Ohio Department of Health

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9 Ohio counties now on coronavirus red alert; Cuyahoga County stays orange for 6th straight week - cleveland.com

Soon, the virus was storming the vast, gridded passages of the Central de Abasto, and Mr. Arriagas father fell ill, too. Dozens in the market died, perhaps hundreds. Not even the government knows for sure.

There is this moment when you start to see people dying, and the stress begins to destroy you, Arriaga, 30 said. It made me realize what a trapped animal feels like.

The market became the epicenter of the epicenter, the teeming heart of a neighborhood that has registered more Covid deaths than any other part of the capital, which is itself the center of the national crisis.

In Iztapalapa, it was clear from the start that the virus would strike hard. Of all the districts in the Mexican capital, it is the most densely populated, with some two million people packed into 45 square miles of heaving commerce and virtually uninterrupted construction.

Poverty circumscribes life, with chronic water shortages. Hundreds of thousands live, day by day, far more fearful of hunger than any virus.

Over the months, a deep-seated skepticism among people like Mr. Arriaga turned to shock, and eventually to resignation, as their neighbors, friends and loved ones died and their neighborhood became ground zero for the outbreak.

The virus left few lives untouched in Iztapalapa, if not by illness then by economic distress. Starvation haunted people who had never considered themselves poor, and rituals that had bound the community for generations were scrapped, including one of the biggest Christian celebrations in Latin America, which was canceled for the first time in more than 150 years.

Originally posted here:

Live Covid-19 Updates - The New York Times

1. How COVID-19 continues to affect the globe

There are now more than 31.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. The number of confirmed deaths has risen to more than 970,000.

Canada is at a COVID-19 crossroads, health officials have warned and could see more than 1,000 new daily cases per day over the next two weeks. The countrys Public Health Agency said: Canada is at a crossroads and individual action to reduce contact rates will decide our path.

Canada: Standing at the coronavirus crossroads

Image: Our World in Data

Brazils ministry of health confirmed 33,536 new cases, as the countrys total COVID-19 count rose to 4,591,364. An additional 836 deaths brought the death toll up to 138,108, the second-highest globally.

Airlines in Europe are hoping a COVID-19 test that delivers a result in just 15 minutes will restore travellers confidence in flying. Lufthansa, Germanys national airline, has teamed up with the pharmaceutical company Roche on the tests. In Italy, Alitalia already offers flights between Milan and Rome for passengers who test negative.

Japan may begin relaxing its strict border controls next month. At the moment, even permanent residents cannot return from overseas without permission. Although the country is considering allowing some visitors to enter, there will still be restrictions in place for tourists.

The Australian state of Victoria may start relaxing more lockdown restrictions this week. The two-week average for new confirmed cases has dropped below 30 in the city of Melbourne. The countrys second-largest city has been under strict lockdown since 2 August.

A public health emergency has been declared in the US state of Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers said: We are seeing an alarming increase in cases across our state, especially on campus. Wisconsinites will be required to wear face masks in public spaces, indoors and out, until at least November.

Fujifilm Toyama Chemical has said its antiviral drug, Avigan, has reduced recovery times for non-severe COVID-19 patients. A study involving 156 patients in Japan found those given the drug saw an improvement after 11.9 days. A control group, who received a placebo recorded recovery times of 14.7 days.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forums mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forums COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

2. Argentinas economy plunges record 19.1% in second quarter on pandemic impact

The pandemic has pushed Argentinas economy into a steep decline, contracting by a record 19.1% in the second quarter of the year. Although not as bad as some analysts had been expecting, it is worse than the countrys last major financial setback in 2002, when the economy shrank by 16.3%

According to Reuters, analysts had forecast an average contraction of 19.9% for the April-June period.

Argentina has been in recession since 2018 and in May of this year it defaulted on its sovereign debt, after missing a $500 million interest payment on approximately $65 billion of foreign debt.

The pandemic pushed Argentinas economy into a steep decline, contracting by a record 19.1%.

Image: REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

South America's third-largest country by population has been in lockdown since mid-March and has recorded 652,174 confirmed cases and 13,952 deaths.

The strong isolation restrictions imposed from the second half of March and that lasted until August had a significant economic cost for the entire country, economist Natalia Motyl of consultancy Libertad y Progreso, told Reuters.

Lockdown has been relaxed but there are restrictions still in place which are expected to stay until 11 October.

3. PAHO: Pregnant women face greater COVID-19 risk and must receive vital support

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is warning of the increased risk to pregnant women from COVID-19. It has recorded 60,458 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among pregnant women, including 458 deaths.

Mexico saw the highest number of deaths 140 from 5,574 cases in pregnant and postpartum women. Brazil, which has been particularly hard-hit, recorded 135 deaths in 2,256 women. The US had 44 deaths among 20,798 women.

The smallest number of deaths came from Panama eight deaths in 525 pregnant women, but that is the highest maternal mortality ratio PAHO found.

The agency has urged health services across the Americas to work harder at making sure pregnant women have access to vitally important prenatal care services. Recently published results and studies based on COVID-19 surveillance data have indicated an increased risk among pregnant women of presenting with severe forms of COVID-19 and, therefore, of being hospitalized and admitted to intensive care units, PAHO warned.

PAHO also found the number of cases among indigenous populations is increasing.

Of the 11 countries that reported data on their indigenous populations, there were 120,593 confirmed cases and 2,639 deaths. Colombia had the largest increase in cases and Ecuador had the largest increase in deaths in indigenous populations, relative to the general population of both countries, the agency said.

Read more here:

COVID-19: Top stories on the coronavirus pandemic, 23 September - World Economic Forum

Another 38 coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine, health officials said Wednesday.

Wednesdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 5,171. Of those, 4,643 have been confirmed positive, while 528 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency revised Tuesdays cumulative total to 5,133, down from 5,146, meaning there was an increase of 25 over the previous days report, state data show. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the states cumulative total.

New cases were reported in Androscoggin (6), Aroostook (1), Cumberland (4), Oxford (6), Sagadahoc (1), Washington (1) and York (18) counties, state data show. Information about where another case was reported wasnt immediately available.

The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases has risen to 34.9, up from 28.1 a week ago and 23.1 a month ago.

Turner-area schools have become the latest to transition back to remote learning after four positive coronavirus cases within the MSAD 52 system. Superintendent Kimberly Brandt said in a Tuesday letter to parents that the cases arent considered part of an outbreak because they have occurred in three different schools. The Maine CDC defines an outbreak as three or more linked cases.

The schools Turner Primary School, Turner Elementary School, Tripp Middle School and Leavitt Area High School will hold classes remotely through the beginning of October, Brandt said. The schools will undergo a thorough cleaning during the closure.

That follows the first reported outbreak in a Maine school system. Sanford High School and Sanford Regional Technical Center have moved to remote learning after an outbreak that has infected at least 13 people. Other cases have been detected in school systems in Falmouth and Lewiston.

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 140. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

So far, 441 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 14 people are currently hospitalized, with two in critical care.

Meanwhile, 38 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 4,445. That means there are 586 active confirmed and probable cases in the state, which is down from 599 on Tuesday.

A majority of the cases 2,981 have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Monday, there have been 377,931 negative test results out of 385,064 overall. About 1.6 percent of all tests have come back positive, the most recently available Maine CDC data show.

The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 2,290 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths 70 have been concentrated. It is one of four counties the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 693, 252 and 1,115 cases, respectively where community transmission has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.

There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been satisfied in other counties.

Other cases have been reported in Aroostook (43), Franklin (60), Hancock (53), Kennebec (207), Knox (36), Lincoln (41), Oxford (132), Piscataquis (9), Sagadahoc (65), Somerset (85), Waldo (73) and Washington (16) counties.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 6,902,930 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 201,120 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Original post:

38 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine - Bangor Daily News

Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday morning. We'll have another update for you at 18:00 BST.

Six months after lockdown was imposed, the country must "summon discipline, resolve and a spirit of togetherness" to get through a second battle against coronavirus. That was the message from Boris Johnson on Tuesday night. He said there had been "too many breaches" of the rules which were leading to a surge in infections, and therefore, new restrictions were needed - here they are in full. The PM warned he'd have to get "tougher" if they were ignored or not effective, but health correspondent Nick Triggle says that's being weighed against the recognition within government that the public is tiring of the fight.

Boris Johnson only decides the rules for England and he stopped short of joining Scotland and Northern Ireland in banning people visiting each other's homes. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people in Scotland to comply from today, with enforcement being introduced on Friday. Exemptions are in place for certain groups of people. The feeling is it's almost inevitable that England will follow suit in the coming weeks.

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Emails sent by the government's most senior scientific and medical advisers, seen by the BBC, have revealed their alarm about claims at the start of the pandemic that they were pursuing a herd immunity strategy. That's the idea that if enough people are allowed to catch a disease and build up some immunity, ultimately it will no longer be able to spread. In one email from March, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance asks for help to "calm down" academics who expressed anger at his repeated references to the concept and the delays in announcing a lockdown.

About 600 drink-only bars in Northern Ireland can welcome back customers today for the first time since March. Until now, pubs could only sell alcohol if they also served food or if customers were outside. Northern Ireland hasn't yet imposed earlier closing, but in England, Scotland and Wales kicking out time will soon be 22:00 BST. Industry representatives want to align with the Republic of Ireland, where it's 23:30. The BBC has spoken to landlords who say early closing could halve their takings.

Chris Gorman's drone photos have revealed extraordinary scenes during the UK lockdown. From panic-buying to empty shopping centres and theme parks, he says "every day provided a new and unique picture". Check out some of his images.

Get a longer coronavirus briefing from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning, by signing up here.

Find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.

Plus, meet the pop star doctor who decided to scrub up and help out on the wards again after coronavirus put paid to her tour.

What questions do you have about coronavirus?

In some cases, your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

Use this form to ask your question:

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Coronavirus: PM's address, herd immunity and lockdown from above - BBC News

What happens when a major city allows the coronavirus to rage unchecked?

If the Brazilian city of Manaus is any answer, it means about two-thirds of the population could get infected and one person in 500 could die before the epidemic winds down.

During May, as the virus spread rapidly in Manaus, the equatorial capital of the state of Amazonas, dire reports described overwhelmed hospitals and freshly dug graves. Demand for coffins ran at four to five times figures for the previous year. But since hitting a peak four months ago, new coronavirus cases and deaths in the city of 1.8 million have undergone a rapid and unexplained decline.

Now a group of researchers from Brazil and the United Kingdom say they know whyso many people got infected that the virus is running out of hosts.

In a report posted to the preprint server medRxiv, a group led by Ester Sabino, of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of So Paulo, says it tested banked blood for antibodies to the virus and estimates that between 44 and 66% of the population of Manaus has been infected since the city detected its first case in March.

From what we learned this is probably the highest prevalence in the world, Sabino said in a phone interview. Deaths have dropped very rapidly, and what were saying is that its related.

In the US, President Donald Trump has attracted ridicule for saying the virus will go away on its own. His comments may be a reference to the fact that if enough people get vaccinated or infected by a virus and develop antibodies to fight it off, so-called herd immunity starts to build in the population: As more people gain immunity, it becomes harder for the virus to infect new people and continue its spread.

Thats exactly whats happening in Manaus, the authors believe. Although nonpharmaceutical interventions, plus a change in population behavior, may have helped to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Manaus, the unusually high infection rate suggests that herd immunity played a significant role in determining the size of the epidemic, they wrote.

The Amazon region has seen the virus at its worst, with people dying at home and infections hitting indigenous groups. However, by mid-August, the Washington Post was documenting a sudden turnaround in Manaus. From a peak of 79 deaths on one day in May, the rate in the city is down to two or three a day in September, according to its health department.

It remains unclear why the virus spread so quickly in Manaus, where mobility data shows people did begin social distancing in March. Sabino and her colleagues think the outbreak may have been accelerated by dense housing, poor water supplies, and crowding on boats that serve as local transportation.

According to the authors, the infection fatality rate in Manaus was about 0.28%, or one death in every 350 people infected by the virus. Considering that not everyone has caught the virus in Manaus, the city-wide covid-19 death rate would be between one in 500 and one in 800 people overall.

Florian Krammer, an immunologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, says it was expected that some regions would reach levels of immunity high enough to interrupt local outbreaks, but that such events should be considered public health failures, not successes.

Community immunity via natural infection is not a strategy, its a sign that government failed to control an outbreak and is paying for that in lives lost, Krammer tweeted.

Other cities should be cautious about drawing conclusions from Manaus since, among other factors, it has a fairly young population. Just 6% of citizens there are over 60, according to Brazils Institute of Geography and Statistics. In New York City, that figure is around 16% and for the US overall, its 20%. Elderly people have a much, much higher risk of dying if they catch the virus than younger people.

The Brazilian figures do suggest just how many people in one place could get infected as the virus spreadsa concept known as the attack rate. Were two-thirds of the US population to be infected, the virus could easily claim more than 500,000 American lives, mostly among the elderly. Thats in line with early projections for worst-case scenarios and with recent events on the ground. The US today surpassed the grim record of more than 200,000 deaths attributed to the virus. Tens of thousands of people are still being infected daily.

In Brazil, Sabinos team was well placed to study the trajectory of the pandemic because the group was previously involved with checking blood donations for transmissible pathogens. Since Brazilian blood banks retain samples of donated blood, they were able to go back and look for coronavirus antibodies at several points in timea technique known as serial sampling.

Very few people have the capacity to do serial sampling, but in Brazil its mandatory to save samples, so we could, says Sabino. During the month of June, a high of 40% of new blood donors were positive for coronavirus antibodies, though the number has decreased since then as antibodies tend to wane over time.

Gabriela Gomes, a mathematical modeler at the University of Strathclyde, says the new report finds that twice as many people in Manaus had coronavirus antibodies as a previous study had suggested; there could be ongoing discussion among immunologists over which finding is more accurate. Sabino says her team used an improved antibody test developed by Abbott Laboratories for their analysis, which she says is more sensitive than the test used for the earlier study and misses fewer cases.

Going forward, the Amazonian capital could now help public health officials better understand how long immunity to covid-19 lasts and how often the virus reinfects people. The blood survey clearly showed that with time, peoples antibodies become harder to detect. That could mean individual immunity to the virus is not permanent. Manaus may act as a sentinel to determine the longevity of population immunity and frequency of reinfections, the authors wrote in their preprint.

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A city in Brazil where covid-19 ran amok may be a sentinel for the rest of the world - MIT Technology Review

MIAMI I really did not want to have heart surgery. Who wants their chest sliced open and carved like a turkey in the middle of a pandemic hot zone? But thats what I did in August.

An unruptured aneurysm quietly bulged in my aorta, the main artery of the body. For more than a year, blood pressure pills had helped manage it.

In January, the coronavirus which was spreading in parts of Asia still seemed like a distant problem.

My cardiologist said it was time. On his advice, I sought a second opinion from Dr. Steve Xydas, chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, who specializes in aortic aneurysms.

Surgery was necessary, Dr. Xydas agreed, because I had two uncles who died from aneurysms and mine had grown to five centimeters. Any bigger, and Id risk a rupture.

He urged me to have a valve sparing aortic root repair, a procedure that involved cutting out the aneurysm and implanting a soft cloth graft. Given my age (I was 46) and overall good health (Im a runner), I would be a good candidate.

He suggested late spring for the surgery. You know what happened next.

While I am from Miami, I was living in New York City, where coronavirus infections surged in March and April. Hospitals were overwhelmed with people seriously ill and dying from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. The anxiety and uncertainty led me to wait. The New York Times, where I am a reporter, shut down its newsroom and turned to remote work. I temporarily moved back to Florida.

I was not alone in wondering what to do about my surgery. Around the country, people like me with a heart issue or other health problems such as cancer were questioning whether to delay or cancel important or time-sensitive procedures that could save our lives. At the time, many hospitals had canceled elective surgeries as coronavirus cases spiked. But as virus safety measures took effect, elective surgeries eventually resumed.

I had always planned to have my procedure at Mount Sinai in South Florida, where I have my partner, family and friends. But the region was also becoming a coronavirus hot spot. In April, a 39-year-old sheriffs deputy became Floridas first law enforcement officer to die from the virus. Many tourists who had visited Miami Beach for a circuit party and for spring break returned home infected. By April 11, Florida had confirmed more than 17,500 coronavirus cases and nearly 400 deaths.

Covid-19 scared the hell out of me. But an inner voice nagged me to schedule surgery anyway. Every time I ran, I could not help but think of the aneurysm growing, waiting to burst.

Aortic aneurysms are most common in men over 60. Complications account for about 15,000 deaths each year, according to Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. Medicines for blood pressure or surgery are the main treatments for aneurysms. Covid-19 was new, and there was no cure.

I did not know which was worse, the silent grenade in my heart or the virus, but I wanted to take control of my situation.

In early July, I scheduled an appointment to plan the procedure. At the hospital entrance, a staff member took my temperature, asked why I was there and if I had any Covid-19 symptoms (I did not).

Dr. Xydas recommended having the repair sooner than later while it was a choice and not an emergency. He gently explained that Covid-19 patients were kept separately in an old section of the hospital. My surgery and recovery would be in a new surgical tower.

I felt reassured. It seemed like the hospital might be the safest place to be during the pandemic. A date was set Aug. 17.

The day before, a nurse tested me for the virus. Negative. The following morning, I had the procedure. Success. The aneurysm was removed. No leaks from the graft.

When I came to, I noticed other safety measures that added to my peace of mind. I had my own room in the intensive care unit. Employees donned masks, changed gloves and used hand sanitizer whenever they visited. Local newscasts kept me abreast of pandemic developments, and I felt thankful that I was in a safe environment.

Two days later, I was in another private room that was wiped down, often every day. I was isolated from other patients, except those I saw from a distance when I walked with therapists. Hallways were mostly empty.

Like so many hospitals nationwide, Mount Sinai had banned most visitors. My family and friends were not allowed to see me, but Kelly Clarkson and Phil McGraw kept me company with their TV chatter.

After five days, I was discharged. When an aide wheeled me out of the hospital, nurses and patients wished me well.

Despite the soreness beneath the five-inch scar on my chest, I knew I would be OK. So far, I am and grateful.

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I Had Heart Surgery in the Middle of a Coronavirus Hot Spot - The New York Times

Weekly update: Coronavirus activity high across the board in Northeast Wisconsin  Fox11online.com

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Weekly update: Coronavirus activity high across the board in Northeast Wisconsin - Fox11online.com

Through his attorney, Tony Spell on Tuesday entered not guilty pleas to six misdemeanor charges of violating the governor's emergency order by holding large gatherings at his Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge.

Spell was not allowed inside the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Baton Rouge, because he would not wear a face covering -- which is required to enter the building.

His attorney, Jeff Wittenbrink, was not available to answer questions on Wednesday morning, but did confirm that Spell was not in court.

"We don't get our rights to worship freely from the government we get those from God," Spell said. "We'd rather obey God than man."

Louisiana has had 162,214 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 5,388 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Spell's next hearing is scheduled for January 25, 2021.

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Pastor accused of defying coronavirus restrictions wasn't allowed in court because he wouldn't wear a mask - CNN