Martinsville-region COVID-19/coronavirus daily update from state, nation and world: Oct. 20 – Martinsville Bulletin

There were no deaths reported this morning in the West Piedmont Health District because of COVID-19, but hospitals got a little more crowded. There were 24 new cases of the virus, and a net of 5 new hospitalizations. The "net" is because Henry County's total was reduced by 1. Franklin County continued its surge with 16 new cases, and Patrick County has 4. Henry County and Martinsville had 2 apiece. Franklin County also had 3 new hospitalizations. Patrick County had 2 and Martinsville 1. That's now 2,694 cases and 281 hospitalizations in the district. The death county remains at 84. A case on staff at Laurel Park Middle School was discovered Monday, prompting a letter to parents about the actions being taken. Martinsville Mayor Kathy Lawson said that Halloween will go on as usual. That is contrary to the CDC and even local statutes for safety. Virginia Tech officials say they plan to have in-person classes in spring semester. There have now beenmore than 40 million cases of coronavirus recordedworldwide. As the numbers tick up, vaccine trials are evolving. The UK government signed a contractfor the first human challenge studies, in which healthy volunteers are deliberately infected with the coronavirus in a controlled setting, and some receive an experimental vaccine. That's a different process than a typical Phase 3 trial, in which volunteers are given the vaccine with the assumption that at least some of them will be exposed to the virus in their daily lives. In the U.S.Johnson & Johnson and the FDA are still mumon why the pharmaceutical giant paused its coronavirus vaccine trial last week. That concerns health experts who point out that, when you're asking millions of people to roll up their sleeves and trust you, transparency is key.That stimulus deadline proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosiis coming up today, and Republican lawmakers are doubtful she and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will come up with something everyone will agree to.President Trump used a phone call and a campaign speech to attack Dr. Anthony Fauci as an "idiot" and to decry coverage of the pandemic. Just 16% of respondents in a new AP/NORC poll say they trust coronavirus information from President Donald Trump a great deal or quite a bit, down from 23% in April. And 64% now say they trust Trump only a little or not at all on COVID-19. Only social media, at 72%, is less trusted. The Virginia Department of Health reportsthis morning there have been 167,754 cases and 3,485 deaths statewide -- up by 28 from Monday. Some 11,955 people have been hospitalized. Henry County has had 1,250 cases, with 133 hospitalizations and 31 deaths. Martinsville has had 460 cases, with 64 hospitalizations and 23 deaths. Patrick County has had 306 cases including 55 hospitalizations and 26 deaths. Franklin County has had 678 cases, 29 hospitalizations and 4 deaths. Danville has reported 1,130 cases (39 deaths), and Pittsylvania County has had 1,227 (17 deaths).Johns Hopkins University's real-time mapshowed 40,464,761 cases worldwide and 1,119,369 deaths. In the U.S. there have been 8,215,605 cases and 220,134 deaths because of COVID-19.

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Martinsville-region COVID-19/coronavirus daily update from state, nation and world: Oct. 20 - Martinsville Bulletin

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