Category: Covid-19

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Shecession: COVID-19 pandemic is hitting women hard heres what an expert says will help recovery – KXAN.com

October 28, 2020

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Shecession: COVID-19 pandemic is hitting women hard heres what an expert says will help recovery - KXAN.com

Lt. Gov. talks about COVID-19 surge on neighbor islands – KHON2

October 28, 2020

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The Department of Health reported 66 new cases of COVID-19 on Oct. 27 for the state: 50 cases are from Oahu, 3 cases are from the Big Island, 11 cases are from Maui County and 2 cases are Hawaii residents diagnosed out of state. The cumulative state total is now 14,773. The DOH also reported 3 additional coronavirus-deaths. The state death toll stands at 215.

The DOH reported that 508,940 test results have been received as of October 26.

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Lt. Gov. talks about COVID-19 surge on neighbor islands - KHON2

4 Pence Aides Test Positive for the Coronavirus – The New York Times

October 26, 2020

Heres what you need to know:The vice presidents chief of staff, Marc Short, is one of at least four staff members who have tested positive for the coronavirus recently.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

At least three top aides to Vice President Mike Pence have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last few days, people briefed on the matter said. The test results raise fresh questions about the safety protocols at the White House, where masks are not routinely worn.

The vice presidents chief of staff, Marc Short, has tested positive, according to Devin OMalley, a spokesman for Mr. Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force. A person briefed on Mr. Shorts diagnosis said it was received on Saturday.

Vice President Pence and Mrs. Pence both tested negative for Covid-19 today, and remain in good health, Mr. OMalley said. While Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the vice president will maintain his schedule in accordance with the C.D.C. guidelines for essential personnel.

The statement did not come from the White House medical unit, but instead from a press aide. Two people briefed on the matter said that the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had sought to keep news of the outbreak from becoming public.

On Sunday, in an appearance on CNNs State of the Union, Mr. Meadows denied that he had tried to suppress news of the outbreak, saying he had acted out of concern about sharing personal information.

A Trump adviser briefed on the outbreak, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that the Pence adviser Marty Obst also tested positive this week. Mr. Obsts positive test was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Another person briefed on the developments, who also was not allowed to speak publicly, said that three additional Pence staff members had tested positive. Mr. OMalley did not immediately respond to a question about others who have tested positive.

Mr. Pences decision to continue campaigning, despite his proximity to his chief of staff, is certain to raise fresh questions about how seriously the White House is taking the risks to its staff members and to the public as the pandemic has killed nearly 225,000 people in the United States. The vice presidents office said that both Mr. and Mrs. Pence tested negative again on Sunday.

President Trump, the first lady and several aides and advisers tested positive for the virus roughly three weeks ago. Mr. Trump spent three nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and he was treated with an experimental antibody cocktail as well as the powerful steroid dexamethasone.

The administration decided not to trace the contacts of guests and staff members at the Rose Garden celebration on Sept. 26 for the Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, which also included a reception inside the White House. That event was linked to an outbreak that grew to more than 20 cases, as evidence mounted that the administration had done little to prevent or contain the viruss spread.

Mr. Trump, at rallies over the past two days, has insisted the country is rounding the turn on the virus, even though the single-day record for new cases was shattered on Friday. The United States has averaged more than 68,000 new cases a day over the last week, the countrys highest seven-day average of the pandemic.

Reports of new infections poured in at alarming levels on Saturday as the coronavirus continued to tear through the United States. Six states reported their highest-ever infection totals and more than 78,000 new cases had been announced by evening, one day after the country shattered its single-day record with more than 85,000 new cases.

The countrys case total on Saturday was the second highest in a single day. Case numbers on weekends are often lower because some states and counties do not report new data, so the high numbers on Saturday gave reason for alarm.

This is exploding all over the country, said Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, whose state is among 17 that have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. Weve got to tamp down these cases. The more cases, the more people that end up in the hospital and the more people die.

Officials in Alaska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Illinois announced more new cases on Saturday than on any other day of the pandemic. On Sunday, Alaska reported a record for the third straight day.

Rural areas and small metropolitan regions have seen some of the worst outbreaks in recent weeks, but by Saturday, many large cities were struggling as well.

The counties that include Chicago, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Anchorage and El Paso all set single-day records for new infections on Saturday. Across the country, hospitalizations have grown by about 40 percent since last month, and they continued to rise on Saturday. Around Chicago, where new restrictions on bars and other businesses took effect Friday, more than twice as many cases are now being identified each day than at the start of October.

This moment is a critical inflection point for Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said.

States in the Midwest and Mountain West have been reporting some of the countrys most discouraging statistics, but worrisome upticks are occurring all over. New cases have emerged at or near record levels recently in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas and New Mexico.

Over the next week, two weeks, three weeks, please be extremely conservative in deciding how much time to spend outside of the home, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said Friday as she imposed new restrictions on businesses. The visit to friends can wait its not worth your life, or theirs.

Experts worry that the growing numbers in need of hospital care will only get worse if cases continue to mount, especially in rural areas where medical facilities could be quickly overwhelmed.

The high case count in part reflects increased testing. With about one million people tested on many days, the country is getting a far more accurate picture of how widely the virus has spread than it did in the spring.

But public health officials warn that Americans are heading into a dangerous phase, as cooler weather forces people indoors, where the virus spreads easily. It could make for a grueling winter that tests the discipline of the many people who have grown weary of masks and of turning down invitations to see family and friends.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said on Friday that the country should consider implementing a first-ever national mandate requiring masks, to help control a surge in coronavirus cases across the United States that has become the most severe to date.

Appearing on CNN, Dr. Fauci said that enforcing such a mandate would be difficult. But with conditions worsening across disparate regions of the country, he said he could be inclined to recommend the dramatic measure.

Theres going to be a difficulty enforcing it, he said, but if everyone agrees that this is something thats important and they mandate it and everybody pulls together and say, you know, were going to mandate it but lets just do it, I think that would be a great idea to have everybody do it uniformly.

Most states have imposed mask requirements to varying degrees, covering different spheres such as indoor and outdoor spaces at some point during the pandemic.

However, a minority of states, including Iowa, have resisted issuing directives on masks even as case counts have begun to climb to new highs. And even states and cities that have more restrictive orders in place tend to allow some exceptions, such as when people are exercising.

The White House has obstructed federal efforts that would have mandated masks in a more limited way, blocking an order drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month that would have required masks on public transportation.

But with more than a dozen states reporting more cases over the past week than in any other seven-day stretch during the pandemic, Dr. Fauci said that it may be necessary to have a more coordinated, national approach.

I get the argument saying, Well if you mandate a mask, then youre going to have to enforce it and thatll create more of a problem, he said. Well, if people are not wearing masks then maybe we should be mandating it.

Even as cases have risen to their highest levels yet in the United States, the White House Coronavirus Task Force has been meeting less frequently, Dr. Fauci said on Friday, appearing on MSNBC.

Recently, the group has been meeting weekly less frequent than the sometimes daily meetings during the early spring, he said.

The last time that President Trump was at one of the White House coronavirus task force meetings, which are now virtual, was several months ago, Dr. Fauci said, adding: Direct involvement with the president in discussions I have not done that in a while.

Vice President Mike Pence leads the task force, and relays guidance from the groups medical experts to the president, Dr. Fauci said.

U.S. Roundup

More than 800 North Dakotans who tested positive for the coronavirus have been belatedly notified after the state health department faced a backlog of cases, health officials said this week.

The backlog was caused by the sharp increase in cases in the state, the health department said in a statement. Members of the North Dakota National Guard who had been helping the states contact tracing efforts since early last month were reassigned to notify the people who tested positive, a health department spokeswoman said.

With 5,613 new cases in the state over the past week 737 cases per 100,000 people the state has the highest levels of infection per person in the country, according to a New York Times database. New York State had 56 cases per 100,000 people over the past week.

To address the backlog, contact tracers began calling people who tested positive, rather than their normal duties of calling those positive cases close contacts.

People who came in close contact with someone who tested positive will no longer be contacted by public health officials, the department said, except for people in health care, K-12 schools and universities.

Instead, people who test positive will be asked to self-notify their close contacts.

In other developments around the country:

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas asked the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Saturday to authorize the use of an Army medical center on Fort Bliss for non-coronavirus patients in an effort to create more space for coronavirus patients at hospitals in the El Paso area.

A state of emergency issued in March by Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma was extended this week for another 30 days as the state faces record infection levels. As positive cases hit a new peak in the state, there have been an average of 1,312 new cases per day over the past week, an increase of 17 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

Warning signs flashed on Saturday that the pandemic has entered a dangerous phase across Europe, with several countries shattering daily infection records and uncertainty mounting about how the continent will battle its worst outbreak to date.

Deaths from the coronavirus in Germany surpassed 10,000 on Saturday, a disconcerting milestone in a country that has been widely admired for its ability to manage the pandemic. The number of new infections in a 24-hour period also reached a record level 14,714 although the countrys public health authority said that some of those cases should have been factored in earlier in the week but had not been because of technical issues.

Officials in Poland announced on Saturday that President Andrzej Duda had tested positive for the coronavirus at a time when the countrys de facto leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was already in self-isolation after coming into contact with somebody earlier in the week who was infected.

The Belgian government, alarmed by the quickening pace of infections in the country of 11 million the second-worst in Europe behind the Czech Republic inched closer to a total lockdown with a spate of new restrictions on daily life. Officials moved up by two hours a curfew put in place last week, to 10 p.m. instead of midnight, for the next month, and required that all cultural and fitness venues such as gyms, pools, galleries and museums shut down. Commercial stores will be required to close at 8 p.m.

On Friday, several other countries, including France and Italy, recorded single-day records for new infections, according to data compiled by The New York Times. And the surge of new cases across the continent has pushed hospitalizations to alarming levels in countries such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

France, after months of falling numbers of patients in intensive care, is now facing a frightening second wave. It has recorded over one million cases and set a single-day record Friday with 42,032 new cases. The government this week expanded its nightly curfew to 38 more regions and Polynesia.

The local health authorities in Germany, who are responsible for the contact tracing of infected people, said they were increasingly overwhelmed, despite help from hundreds of soldiers who have been dispatched to communities across the country. In Frankfurt, a city of about 750,000 that serves as Germanys banking capital, the number of new cases has quadrupled since the beginning of this month, and health officials there conceded that their ability to stop chains of infection had collapsed.

It is no longer possible to trace each case, the head of Frankfurts office of public health, Ren Gottschalk, told ZDF public television on Friday.

In Italy, which reported 19,143 new cases on Friday, officials are considering closing public gyms and swimming pools, according to a Reuters report. Bars and restaurants would be closed at 6 p.m. and people would be discouraged from traveling outside their local areas.

The coronavirus has made a routine trip to the gym feel like a health threat.

Many epidemiologists consider gyms to be among the highest-risk environments, and they were some of the last businesses to reopen in New York City in early September.

Now, gyms must comply with a long list of regulations. Checking in requires a health screening; masks are mandatory, even during the most strenuous workouts; only one-third of normal occupancy is allowed; and everyone must clean, then clean some more.

At a Planet Fitness in Brooklyn, Dinara Izmagambetova, who wore a floral face mask and had a sheen of sweat after completing a two-hour workout, said she was thrilled to be back in a gym. But safety measures had made it a less sociable experience, she said.

I could ask someone how to use a machine before the outbreak, Ms. Izmagambetova said. Now Im doing a lot of Googling.

But even as gyms have reopened, their future remains unclear. Some of them have had to shut down again after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently designated parts of Brooklyn and Queens coronavirus hot spots.

Despite scientists concerns, infection clusters connected to gyms in the United States have been relatively rare so far, though they have been reported in Hawaii and California.

Were not seeing outbreaks tied to gyms as heavily as something like a bar or school, said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at George Mason University in Virginia.

Still, a number of the 2,000 or so gyms in New York State and fitness centers across the country face a fight for life. At least one-fourth of the more than 40,000 gyms in the United States could close by the end of the year, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, an industry group. A study by Yelp said that more than 2,600 already had.

As Colorado fights a spate of late-season wildfires, with residents hoping that a predicted blizzard on Sunday will finally bring things under control, the states governor is warning that the thick smoke spreading across mountain towns could hide coronavirus outbreaks.

We do worry that the impact on respiratory conditions of the fires could mask the spread of Covid, Gov. Jared Polis said at a news conference this week, asking residents to please consider getting tested if they have a cough or sore throat.

Crews in northern Colorado have spent several grueling days battling the East Troublesome fire amid 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts. Firefighters are struggling to control the 188,000-acre wildfire, which has destroyed an unknown number of homes while roaring through ranches, lakeside resorts and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Symptoms of smoke exposure such as wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath are hard to distinguish from symptoms of the coronavirus, experts have said, making it difficult for many sufferers to know what is causing their discomfort.

The early symptoms of Covid look a lot like breathing bad air for a period of hours, Mr. Polis said.

Wildfire smoke can also make people more susceptible to catching the virus.

When your immune system is overwhelmed by particles, its not going to do such a good job fighting other things, like viruses, Sarah Henderson, a senior environmental health scientist at the British Columbia Center for Disease Control, said this summer.

As of Saturday night, there have been almost 94,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,241 deaths in Colorado since the start of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, the state has averaged more than 1,300 new cases per day, an increase of 79 percent from the average of two weeks earlier.

Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio

The day before its first kickoff of 2020, the Big Ten Conference was still unveiling rules for a football season that had been postponed, revived, truncated and compromised in efforts to contain the pandemic.

On Thursday, the conference announced a no contest rule for games canceled if team personnel tested positive for the virus which seemed inevitable because the schedule has no bye weeks and, therefore, no wiggle room for last-minute changes. The intention is to play nine games in nine weeks to catch up to the three Power Five conferences that have already started.

But just over a month ago, no one thought the Big Ten made up of 14 schools across the Midwest and Northeast would begin football on Friday night, with the University of Illinois at the University of Wisconsin, even as the home teams state ranked fourth in the country in per capita cases over the past seven days, and first among the states with Big Ten programs.

Having football while I cant go to class in a way, its nice that were having this one thing thats unifying, said Anne Isman, a sophomore at Wisconsin who is living in an apartment in Madison. At the same time, the timing feels a little off.

Fans and parties will be barred from all of the leagues stadiums, but the precautions have not fully reassured the mayors of certain Big Ten towns.

They know that what happens at the stadiums will be only one part of footballs return. Fear of groups breaking recommended social-distancing protocols led 12 mayors of areas surrounding 11 Big Ten schools to send a letter to the conference this week, citing concerns about what bringing football back means for college towns as fans congregate to watch games the virus an omnipresent risk freely floating between face paint, beer bottles and potlucks.

We know the history of football games within our cities, the mayors wrote. They generate a lot of activity, social gatherings and consumption of alcohol.

A spokesman for President Andrzej Duda of Poland said on Saturday that Mr. Duda had tested positive for the coronavirus and would go into isolation, just days after Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the deputy prime minister and head of the governing party, entered quarantine after exposure to somebody who had been infected.

The announcement came amid a moment of crisis for Poland, which has been combating one of the most severe outbreaks in Europe, with hospital beds filling at an alarming rate.

Poland largely avoided the first wave of the pandemic by imposing an early lockdown in March, and nearly a third of its more than 240,000 total cases have emerged in the past week.

The latest wave of cases has forced the country to implement new restrictions on public life and to convert the national stadium in Warsaw into a temporary field hospital that can accommodate 500 virus patients. Mr. Duda visited the stadium on Friday and met with site managers.

The new restrictions will require all cafes, bars and restaurants to close, except for takeout; gyms and swimming pools were also shut. Residents must use face coverings outside their homes, and remote teaching will become the norm for older children in primary schools, as well as in high schools and at universities.

Several months into the pandemic, Mr. Duda joined the ranks of leaders who have contracted the virus, including President Trump, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.

The spokesman who announced Mr. Dudas condition said he was feeling well.

Monika Pronczuk and Tess Felder

global roundup

The Czech Republics prime minister has demanded the resignation of the countrys health minister after the health minister was photographed leaving a restaurant without a face covering.

The health minister, Roman Prymula, an epidemiologist who began his job in late September, has so far refused to resign. The prime minister has threatened to fire him, but he does not have the power to do so.

The Czech Republic is in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Cases are rising faster than anywhere else in Europe, with 81,970 cases recorded over the past week. The government has been imposing more and more restrictions in the hope of containing the spread of the virus.

Mr. Prymula had announced a partial lockdown beginning Thursday that closed shops and services, barred people from leaving their homes except for vital business and limited contact with people from other households. Restaurants, bars and cafes have been closed since Oct. 14, with the exception of carryout until 8 p.m. nightly.

Despite this, Mr. Prymula was photographed by a tabloid newspaper, Blesk, leaving the premises of a restaurant after midnight wearing no face mask after a meeting with a politician, Jaroslav Faltynek, who is first chairman of Prime Minister Andrej Babiss ANO movement.

Such a mistake cannot be excused, Mr. Babis said on Friday at a news conference. I do not care what Minister Prymula and Mr. Faltynek did there, who they invited and why. We cannot preach water and drink wine. He said he would fire Mr. Prymula if he did not resign and that Mr. Faltynek would also be resigning his ANO post.

In refusing to resign, Mr. Prymula said at a news conference, I did not break any rules, I walked through the restaurant to private premises.

Though Mr. Babis can recommend that Mr. Prymula be fired, the president must agree and usually that is what happens. But President Milos Zeman has voiced doubts about the move in this case. The two were meeting in the afternoon.

In other developments around the world:

Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the president of Algeria, said on Saturday that he would quarantine himself after senior government officials had been infected with the coronavirus. He said he was feeling well and that he would continue working during his quarantine.

The Metropolitan Police arrested 18 protesters in London on Saturday following clashes between demonstrators and the police that left three officers with minor injuries, the police said. The demonstration against lockdowns attracted a large number of protesters, with many not social distancing, violating coronavirus regulations, Cmdr. Ade Adelekan said.

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4 Pence Aides Test Positive for the Coronavirus - The New York Times

How polio personnel are pivoting against COVID-19 – World Health Organization

October 26, 2020

World Polio Day, on 24 October, is when the world comes together to celebrate the determination that has brought us 99% of the way to ending polio, and reflect on the heights we must scale to defeat the disease completely.

This year, Africa was declared free of wild poliovirus, a testimony to the outstanding work of thousands of health workers and their supporters over many decades.

Despite this, 2020 may be the toughest year polio eradicators have ever faced. In the last eight months, immunization services have taken a devastating hit. An estimated 80 million children under one may have missed critical vaccines. Vaccine-preventable diseases including polio have spread in the most vulnerable contexts. This year, new outbreaks of vaccine-derived polio have been detected in the Eastern Mediterranean and African regions, including in Yemen, Sudan and South Sudan.

WHO is working closely with national Governments to urgently respond to outbreaks and repair immunization systems affected in the early months of the pandemic. In the context of a significant budget shortfall and increased costs of delivering health interventions due to the pandemic, outbreak response for both polio and measles will require additional funding and urgent action.

Below, learn about the work of polio personnel around the world to deliver polio vaccines and close immunity gaps, whilst continuing to fight COVID-19.

Nasrin Ahmadi, District Polio Officer in Afghanistan

I chose to continue to do public health awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic. I wanted to help save peoples lives and continue to serve my people, says Nasrin Ahmadi, a polio worker and volunteer for the COVID-19 response in Balkh province in Afghanistan.

Eight months since the first COVID-19 case was reported in Afghanistan, polio programme frontline workers continue to support outbreak response. During the pandemic, Nasrin has taken on extra duties to identify suspected COVID-19 cases, share accurate information with communities, and trace individuals returning from abroad to encourage them to isolate. Throughout, she has continued to educate families on the importance of polio vaccination.

Read more about Nasrin

Mohamed Sharif Mohamed, Regional Polio Eradication Officer in Somalia

In addition to his polio duties, Mohamed provides COVID-19 support to 17 districts in Banadir, Somalia through coordinating and training COVID-19 teams, carrying out active surveillance visits to health facilities and reviewing reports submitted by district polio officers on the pandemic response.

In September, he took part in the first immunization campaign to resume in Somalia since COVID-19 arrived in the country. All children who took part in the campaign were offered deworming tablets and vitamin A in addition to measles and polio vaccines. Delivering multiple services is crucial in the context of ongoing polio and measles outbreaks in Somalia, and low overall population immunity.

Read more about integrated polio and measles campaigns in Somalia

Dr Samreen Khalil, Polio Eradication Officer in Pakistan

Polio teams in Pakistan have been working to support the COVID-19 response since the beginning of the pandemic, as well as continuing with their work to eradicate polio.

In Peshawar, the team has adapted existing acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance networks embedded in hospitals and health facilities to detect COVID-19 as well as polio. Polio staff like Dr Samreen Khalil have been helping with testing and have trained health workers on infection prevention and control. Polio data management systems across the country and a call centre in the capital, Islamabad, assist in addressing misinformation and helping to detect suspected COVID-19 cases.

Dr Sylvester Maleghemi, Polio Team Lead in South Sudan

In the African region, the polio eradication programme has a long history of responding to other disease outbreaks and health emergencies. With its unmatched technical expertise, disease surveillance and logistics capacities as well as wide community networks, the polio team was perfectly placed to mobilise a large-scale emergency response to COVID-19, while maintaining polio eradication efforts.

Dr Sylvester Maleghemi, WHO Polio Team Lead in South Sudan, explains, Across Africa, polio infrastructure and staff are found at district, province, all the way to the national level, so whenever theres an outbreak, polio teams are always the first to respond.

As the pandemic progresses, polio staff and resources across the globe continue to tackle COVID-19, while pushing to rid the world of all forms of polio, close the immunity gap, and contribute towards universal health coverage.

Read more about Africas polio infrastructure

Exceptional support from the global donor community and the immense efforts of health workers, parents and local leaders have brought us 99% of the way to eradicating polio worldwide. On World Polio Day, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, of which the WHO is a leading partner, would like to thank everyone dedicated to delivering a polio-free world.

More on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and WHOs work to end polio.

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How polio personnel are pivoting against COVID-19 - World Health Organization

Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz awaiting confirmation of positive COVID-19 test – CBS Sports

October 26, 2020

Wisconsin redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently awaiting confirmation on a second test, a source has confirmed to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd. Mertz made a splash on Friday night when he threw for 248 yards, five touchdowns and only tossed one incompletion in the season-opening 45-7 win over Illinois.

Should the positive result be confirmed via results of the ensuing PCR test, Mertz will be required to sit out for three weeks according to the coronavirus protocols instituted by the Big Ten upon its return to play. He will also have to undergo extensive cardiac testing to investigate any long-term conditions that could arise from COVID-19 including myocarditis.

Wisconsin later released a statement on Sunday event reiterating that it would not release information regarding specific student-athletes.

"Wisconsin Athletics will not be releasing COVID-related testing information regarding any individual student-athlete, due to medical privacy," the statement read. "We will continue to follow Big Ten Conference COVID-19 protocols developed by the Big Ten medical subcommittee and approved by the conference's presidents and chancellors."

The school did say that there were no individuals who tested positive for antigen tests or had COVID-19 symptoms prior to Friday night's game.

The absence of Mertz, assuming he is out, would put enormous pressure on redshirt sophomore backupChase Wolf. Wisconsin will play at Nebraska, vs. Purdue and at No. 13 Michigan over the next three weeks. Wolf completed the only pass he attempted last season a three-yarder in the 61-0 win over Central Michigan in Week 2.

The arrival of Mertz as a star was enormous for the Badgers, who lost returning starter Jack Coan to a foot injury during fall camp. Mertz was a four-star quarterback and the No. 65 overall player in the Class of 2019, and has been touted as the "quarterback of the future" in Madison since he signed on the dotted line.

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Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz awaiting confirmation of positive COVID-19 test - CBS Sports

COVID-19 pandemic poses another threat to elderly: Loneliness – LancasterOnline

October 26, 2020

When Betty Rutt remembers life before the pandemic, what she misses most is her family.

Thats the hardest thing for all adults this age, if you dont see your family, Rutt said. Because thats almost what you live for.

Rutt, who is 92 and a resident at Brethren Villages Village Manor home, is limited in her ability to see her family, which consists of five children, 13 grandchildren, and 28 great grandchildren, due to COVID-19.

She can call them on the phone, or video chat, or meet them in groups of four, 6 feet apart. But its not the same as before, Rutt said, when she could hug them, and eat with them, and see them all at once.

I cant hold them; I cant touch them, Rutt said. Its strange.

Lancaster County nursing and personal-care homes have been hit hard by the pandemic. Of the 440 people in the county who have died from COVID-19, 360, or 82%, were residents of these homes, according to the county coroners office.

A total of eight residents at Brethren Village have died from the virus, which infected a total of 19 residents and 18 staff.

But while nursing and personal-care homes follow state Department of Health guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, some experts worry that the isolation resulting from safety measures is taking its toll.

92 year old Betty Rutt, who lives at Village Manor personal care building at Brethren Village, talks about living through the pandemic during an interview in the welcome center at Brethren Village Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020.

Douglas Ockrymiek, a psychiatrist at Behavioral Healthcare Corp. in Lancaster, said he has noticed an increase in depression and loneliness among older adults during the pandemic.

The elderly are missing relationships with family, friends, and that has a big impact on them, Ockrymiek said. Theres no doubt that loneliness can lead to an increase in what I call morbidity and mortality.

Loneliness can exacerbate physical decline if a person lacks the motivation to take medication, or develops anxiety-induced shortness of breath, chest pain or lightheadedness, Ockrymiek said.

Lori Schoener, Therapeutic Recreation Director at Brethren Village, talks during an interview at Brethren Village Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020

Its this balancing act, said Tara Ober, vice president of communications and resident life at Brethren Village, which shut down all visitation from March until June as ordered by the state. We want to keep (our residents) safe; we dont want them to die of loneliness.

During the shutdown, only staff, residents and essential personnel could enter Brethren Village, Ober said. They experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in their dementia unit during those months.

Lori Schoener, director for skilled living admissions and therapeutic recreation, described the March to June atmosphere as dark.

If COVID numbers continue to go up, Im not sure that theyll ever have us go back into full lockdown, Schoener said. It took so much pressure from families and providers that said, this cant keep happening; we cant have our residents this isolated.

That was part of the retirement communitys motivation for prioritizing visitation in its recent reopening plan that took effect Oct. 2. Now, residents may accept face-to-face visitors in three ways: indoor groups of four, with everyone wearing masks and spaced 6 feet apart; outdoor groups with the same limitations; or window visits, where residents speak to guests through a plastic screen inside a coat closet.

It was fun, Rutt said of the times shes seen family members. At least I saw em.

Betty Rutt, third from left, is seen with her family at granddaughter Kim Rutt's wedding in this photo from 2019.

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Other nursing homes and senior living facilities in the county also are promoting socialization among their residents.

Luther Acres in Lititz and ManorCare Health Services in Lancaster Township have yet to resume in-person visitation but are prioritizing virtual communication.

Both were hit hard early on in the pandemic, with 29 Luther Acres residents and 22 ManorCare residents having died of COVID-19.

Luther Acres reported 60 positive cases among residents and 54 among staff. ManorCare reported 104 positive cases among its residents and 34 among staff.

Luther Acres is offering virtual support and outdoor window visits, and hopes to reopen more visitation soon, following required safety measures, according to health care administrator Mark Kessler.

ManorCare spokeswoman Julie Beckert said nearly 600 iPads were ordered for residents to make video calls over the past six months.

All Pennsylvania nursing homes offer compassionate care visits, which allow in-room visitors for residents showing two or more documented signs of declining health. This does not apply to residents with COVID-19.

Tara Ober, Vice President of Communications & Resident Life at Brethren Village, talks during an interview at Brethren Village Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020

Concern about isolations impact on mental health stretches beyond nursing homes.

Lancaster County Office of Agings eight senior centers, which temporarily closed March 14, reopened in September after an influx of calls from members expressing depression, said Lisa Paulson, the offices program director.

Were one of the few counties in the surrounding areas that has our centers open, Paulson said. But we chose to do that because we were hearing from people about their level of depression and loneliness.

The centers allow for about one third as many guests as before the pandemic but are expanding virtual programming to make up for the loss.

For some residents, staying up-to-date on COVID-19 can give them peace of mind. But for others, like Rutt, staying sane amid this years news cycle means avoiding it. She keeps herself occupied by solving Rubiks Cubes, assembling puzzle books and embroidering.

I stay away from it, Rutt said. Theres nothing I can do about it anyhow.

Thats why I try to stay busy, she said.If I sit in my room and think about myself, my head goes crazy. It almost gives you a headache.

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COVID-19 pandemic poses another threat to elderly: Loneliness - LancasterOnline

mRNA vaccines face their first test with Covid-19. How do they work? – STAT

October 26, 2020

Messenger RNA may not be as famous as its cousin, DNA, but its having a moment in the spotlight. This crucial intermediary in the protein-making process is now being harnessed by scientists to to try to protect us from disease including Covid-19.

Companies like Moderna and Pfizer are working on mRNA vaccines that allow people to build immunity to viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. These vaccines contain specifically designed mRNA that instructs cells how to make viral proteins. Find out how mRNA vaccines can trigger immune cells, in this video.

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mRNA vaccines face their first test with Covid-19. How do they work? - STAT

More than 120 COVID-19 cases have been reported at Lancaster County schools. Here’s where they are [update] – LancasterOnline

October 26, 2020

More than 120 cases of COVID-19 have been reported at Lancaster County schools so far into the 2020-21 school year.

The cases come from 16 school districts, plus a brick-and-mortar charter school in Lancaster city and the county's career and technology center.

And that might not be all.

With the Pennsylvania Department of Health not tracking COVID-19 cases in schools, it's up to each district to notify the community of a positive test from someone inside its schools.

Reporting methods differ wildly from district to district.

Some schools have posted a letter online after discovering each positive test. Elizabethtown Area has added a "COVID-19 dashboard" showing the number of at each of its schools.

Hempfield, meanwhile, is publishing daily a simple "yes" or "no" as to whether it conducted contact tracing that day. The number in the list below, therefore, corresponds to the number of times the district has conducted contact tracing. The number of actual cases may be higher.

Some districts haven't published anything.

Only School District of Lancaster has specified whether the positive tests came from a student or a staff member.

With each case comes contact tracing, cleaning and sanitizing buildings and, in some cases, school closures.

Ten schools Conestoga Valley High School, Donegal High School, Donegal Intermediate School, East High Street Elementary School, Elizabethtown Area High School, Elizabethtown Area Middle School, the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, Pequea Valley High School, Pequea Valley Intermediate School and Penn Manor High School have temporarily closed this fall due to COVID-19.

Below is a list of known school districts and individual schools that have reported at least one case of COVID-19.

Note: These are cumulative cases; some are no longer active.

Last updated Oct. 26.

List follows map.

TOTAL:121.

Cocalico:Seven three at Reamstown Elementary School, two at Denver Elementary School, and one each at Cocalico High School and Cocalico Middle School.

Columbia Borough: One.

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Conestoga Valley: Eleven eight at Conestoga Valley High School, and one each at Brownstown Elementary school, Gerald G. Huesken Middle School and Leola Elementary School (new).

Donegal: Four three at Donegal Intermediate School and one at Donegal Primary School.

Eastern Lancaster County: Two at Garden Spot High School (one new).

Elizabethtown Area:Sixteen five at the Elizabethtown Area High School, three each at Elizabethtown Area Middle School and Bear Creek School (one new), Rheems Elementary School and East High Street Elementary School, and one at Mill Rhoad Elementary School.

Ephrata Area:One at Ephrata High School.

Hempfield:Fifteen.

La Academia Partnership Charter School: One.

Lampeter-Strasburg:Five four at Lampeter-Strasburg High School and one at Martin Meylin Middle School.

Lancaster County Career & Technology Center: Four.

Manheim Central: Two one each at Doe Run Elementary School and Manheim Central Middle School.

Manheim Township: Eight two each at Landis Run Intermediate School, Manheim Township High School and Reidenbaugh Elementary School, and one each at Manheim Township Middle School and Nitrauer Elementary School.

Penn Manor:Twelve seven at Penn Manor High School and one each at Central Manor Elementary School, Eshleman Elementary School, Hambright Elementary School, Manor Middle School and Marticville Middle School.

Pequea Valley:Seven two each at Paradise Elementary School and Salisbury Elementary School, one at Pequea Valley High School.Two additional cases were reported within the district, but no school was identified.

School District of Lancaster: Twelve six students and six staff members.

Solanco:One at Quarryville Elementary School.

Warwick: Twelve five at Warwick Middle School (one new), three at Warwick High School and one each at John Beck Elementary School, Kissel Hill Elementary School and Lititz Elementary School. One additional case was reported within the district, but no school was identified.

Are we missing any confirmed COVID-19 cases at Lancaster County schools? Let us know by emailing ageli@lnpnews.com.

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More than 120 COVID-19 cases have been reported at Lancaster County schools. Here's where they are [update] - LancasterOnline

Lehigh’s COVID-19 outbreak impacted county data – The Brown and White

October 26, 2020

Data from both Lehighs COVID-19 dashboard and the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows the potential impact the recent outbreak on campus has had on the larger community.

Lehighs COVID Response Team announced a scaleback of campus activity on Oct. 2, after 22 new positive cases were reported on and off campus. Since that announcement, at least 151 positive cases have been reported. In a one-week span, active cases dropped from 82 to 28 as of Oct. 23.

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Graphic by Jenna Simon/B&W Staff

The chart above compares Lehighs new COVID-19 cases to those of Northampton County. During the week of Sep. 28, new Lehigh cases made up over 50 percent of all new cases in Northampton County. The following week, Lehigh students contributed to approximately 40 percent of new positive COVID-19 cases in Northampton County.

These figures beg the question: How badly did Lehighs COVID-19 outbreak affect the greater Northampton County community?

While there is no clear evidence that Lehigh students directly affected other citizens of Northampton County, the data does suggest that Lehighs COVID-19 outbreak played a role in increasing positive cases in the area.

The week of Sep. 14, in which Northampton County had 136 positive cases, appears to be an outlier. This number dropped until cases at Lehigh went up. During the peak of the outbreak at Lehigh, the university was reporting a positivity rate of four percent in its weekly surveillance testing. That number has since dropped to close to one percent.

A major concern worldwide has been the transmission of the virus between young people, a demographic much less likely to be affected as severely.

Maggi Mumma, deputy press secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said in April, six percent of cases in Northeastern Pennsylvania were between the ages of 19 and 24. Today, that number has increased to approximately 20 percent of all cases in the region.

Gov. Tom Wolf said earlier in October he was concerned about rising case numbers in the state, specifically citing the opening of Pennsylvania colleges and universities as one factor driving up the case count. The Keystone State recorded a pandemic-high 2, 219 cases on Friday, and Saturday also saw more than 2,000 cases in Pennsylvania.

The Department of Health remains significantly concerned about the potential spread of this virus, particularly among young people, Mumma said. Health care officials all across the state are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases in young people.

Mumma said cases are recorded in the county in which the person is spending the majority of his or her time. Since the student is spending more of the year near campus than at home, the case would count in the colleges county. Lehigh is also reporting cases among students specifically in the Bethlehem area on its dashboard, so the Department of Healths Northampton County data and the university data are likely to align with one another.

In response to the outbreak, Lehigh administration moved the campus to all remote learning, closed all gyms and libraries, shut down athletics, increased testing and moved dining to takeout only. Additionally, over 200 students living on campus have gone home after the new restrictions were announced.

Since the number of cases has fallen significantly, Lehigh announced it would reopen parts of campus on Oct. 26.

From the outset, Lehighs strategy has included the idea that any new information, such as an increase in positive cases or changes in guidance from health authorities, would be met with new protocols, such as greater restrictions and increased testing, as was implemented a few weeks ago the moment an outbreak was suspected, said Lori Friedman, director of media relations.

She also said the administrations strategy included a plan for the occurrence of an outbreak, in addition to outbreak prevention. The Brown and White originally requested to speak with David Rubenstein, executive director of the health center, on this issue, but was directed to Friedman instead.

Lehigh said the spread of COVID-19 likely stemmed from large student gatherings at off campus locations.

We didnt recognize our responsibility to be the best community members we couldve been, said Eve Freed, president of Student Senate.

Although its understandable to have social bubbles in a pandemic, she said, these social bubbles are bound to overlap on a college campus. Freed said she has concern about how Lehigh is impacting the greater community in terms of COVID-19

I think that there shouldve been a greater emphasis sooner on how this was going to impact the communitys mental health, Freed said. The outbreak occurred the same time as when we wouldve been approaching pacing break.

With just a month to go before all in-person activity stops at Thanksgiving break, the administration will soon have to turn to a decision on the spring semester. Lafayette College, for example, already announced it would have students living on campus in the spring.

Jordan Wolman contributed to this article.

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Lehigh's COVID-19 outbreak impacted county data - The Brown and White

Gov. Andrew Cuomo: COVID-19 Infection Rates Decreasing In New York Micro-Clusters – CBS New York

October 26, 2020

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) Gov. Andrew Cuomo said progress is being made in New York in reducing the COVID infection rate in clusters.

He says the positivity rates in Brooklyn and Queens, and in Rockland and Orange counties were all down this week.

Cuomo said the rate in these so-called micro-clusters is 3.18%.

The rest of the state, excluding those areas, is at 1.06%.

That is great news. It says the focus works, and it says we can get the positivity under control, Cuomo said.

RELATED STORY Gov. Andrew Cuomo: COVID-19 Outbreaks Will Be Analyzed On Block-By-Block Level As State Targets Micro-Clusters To Slow Spread

Last week, the governor eased restrictions in some areas, allowing businesses and schools in Queens and parts of Brooklyn to reopen.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo: COVID-19 Infection Rates Decreasing In New York Micro-Clusters - CBS New York

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