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November 14 coronavirus news
31 Posts
Here's the latest on the pandemic
Austria will enter a second national lockdown on Tuesday for at least two and a half weeks, after its target infection rate of Covid-19 exploded to 10 times higher than expected. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the measures in a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, admitting the government is failing on trace new infections. “The truth is that the authorities are now no longer able to trace 77% of new infections, which means that the authorities no longer know where these infections take place,” he said.
Greece will close all primary schools and nurseries on Monday for two weeks, in light of an increase in Covid-19 cases, the Greek Minister of Education said Saturday. Niki Kerameus called it a “precautionary measure” aimed to reduce adult mobility more widely and take the pressure off hospitals. Greece had 3,038 new cases in its latest data on Friday, marking the second-highest tally of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.
Poland reported a record high 548 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said on Twitter. There have been 10,045 deaths in the country, the highest in eastern Europe, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Russia on Saturday reported 22,702 new cases of coronavirus, the highest number of infections it has ever reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center. The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia as of November 14 is 1,903,253 with 32,834 officially reported deaths.
Italy reported 37,255 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 1,144,552, according to officials. The Italian Health Ministry also confirmed on Twitter 544 deaths in the last 24 hours. While the numbers are slightly lower than previous days, it’s still too early to call it a downward trend.
Iran will impose stricter Covid-19 restrictions in more than 100 towns and cities in the country from next Saturday for two weeks, after seeing a recent surge of coronavirus infections, deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on Saturday on state TV after a meeting led by President Hasan Rouhani.
The new measures – classified as “red” – include non-essential businesses and services to be shut, according to Raisi. The mandatory wearing of masks in public will continue in the capital Tehran, he added.
Austria to go into second national lockdown as Covid-19 cases grow 10 times as fast as expected
Austria will enter a second national lockdown on Tuesday for at least two and a half weeks, after its target infection rate of Covid-19 exploded to 10 times higher than expected.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the measures in a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, admitting the government is failing to trace new infections.
Under the new measures, all non-essential services will close, schools will close and classes will go online, and people are asked not to leave their homes unless for a specific reason. The lockdown will be in place until December 6.
“In Austria we currently have an average infection rate of more than 7000 per day. In most federal states the numbers are even increasing exponentially, for example in Upper Austria,” Kurz said.
Congress must now do a Covid Relief Bill, Trump tweets
President Donald Trump has once again tweeted that Congress should pass a Covid relief bill, saying it should be “big and focused,” which seems to combine the Democrat and Republican wants from an additional stimulus package.
“Congress must now do a Covid Relief Bill. Needs Democrats support. Make it big and focused. Get it done!” Trump tweeted Saturday morning on the way to his golf club in Virginia.
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continued to reject the call from Democrats for a big coronavirus stimulus package, saying, “that’s not a place I think we’re willing to go” and reiterated his push for a bill that’s “highly targeted at what the residual problems are.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer signaled during a news conference earlier on Thursday they’re not willing to change their call for a large coronavirus package even as efforts to negotiate remain stalled.
Meanwhile, Trump – who once called on Republicans to accept “a big, beautiful” stimulus in hopes it would boost his election prospects – is now consumed by the fallout of his defeat.
The White House’s lead stimulus negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, has taken a step back from the talks, and all eyes are on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had been on the sidelines of the negotiations throughout the summer and fall.
Greece closes primary schools and nurseries in new Covid-19 restrictions
Greece will close all primary schools and nurseries on Monday for two weeks, in light of an increase in Covid-19 cases, the Greek Minister of Education said Saturday.
Niki Kerameus said this is a precautionary measure aimed to reduce adult mobility more widely and take the pressure off hospitals. Distance learning was already in place in secondary schools and universities.
Greece imposed a nationwide lockdown last weekend and tightened the night-time curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. local as of Friday.
Greece had 3,038 new cases in its latest data on Friday, marking the second-highest tally of daily cases since the start of the pandemic.
Northwest Syria reports record increase in coronavirus cases as ICU beds fill
Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib reported a record increase of 525 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the Idlib Health Directorate said in a statement on Saturday.
Earlier this month, the health directorate said beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the region were filled to 83% capacity, and asked the World Health Organization to prevent a “catastrophe” by taking responsibility of “saving the lives of 3 million people in northwest Syria.”
Syria has so far recorded a total of 23,829 coronavirus cases based on cumulative number from local medical authorities in the northeast, northwest, and regime-held areas of the country.
Iran to impose stricter coronavirus restrictions from next Saturday
Iran will impose stricter Covid-19 restrictions in more than 100 towns and cities in the country from next Saturday for two weeks after seeing a recent surge of coronavirus infections, deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on Saturday on state TV after a meeting led by President Hassan Rouhani.
The new measures – classified as “red” – include non-essential businesses and services to be shut, according to Raisi.
The mandatory wearing of masks in public will continue in the capital Tehran, he added.
The announcement comes as Iran on Saturday reported 11,203 new cases of coronavirus in the past day – one of the highest daily increase in infections, the country’s health ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said on state TV.
The health ministry also reported 452 new coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the overall death count in the country to 41,034.
Of the 11,203 new cases reported, 2,509 have been hospitalized.
A total of 5,642 patients are currently in critical condition in ICU across the country, according to the health ministry.
Georgia's Secretary of State tests negative for Covid-19
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger tested negative for Covid-19, according to a spokesman in his office.
“The Secretary of State’s test came back negative. His leadership lead will quarantine for ten day and be actively engaged with county management throughout the recount process, Raffensperger’s spokesman, Walter Jones, said in a statement.
Raffensperger is in quarantine after his wife tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesperson in his office told CNN on Thursday.
Two dozen people died of Covid-19 in a Kentucky veterans center as infections in the community surged
At least 24 veterans have died of Covid-19 and more than 80 have been infected since an outbreak last month at Kentucky’s Thomson-Hood Veterans Center, the state’s governor said Friday.
Of the total 86 infections in the Wilmore facility, 48 veterans have now recovered, five are in the hospital and nine are being treated within the center, Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference.
About 63 staff members also tested positive and 52 have since recovered. Eleven of those cases are still active, Beshear said.
Communities hard hit: Assisted living communities and nursing homes across the country have been ravaged by the virus since the pandemic’s start. And as community infections began to soar again at the beginning of fall, the number of cases within those facilities’ walls climbed as well.
A report released earlier this month by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living found that more than 40% of new Covid-19 cases in nursing homes were from Midwest states that had seen spikes in community spread.
And as numbers in nursing homes rise, experts fear that will lead to an increasing number of deaths, AHCA/NCAL said in a news release accompanying the report.
A countrywide resurgence, then an outbreak: The Kentucky veterans center was able to avoid an outbreak for months, screening employees and veterans daily since March and conducting immediate testing for anyone who was showing symptoms.
But amid a Covid-19 resurgence across American communities in October and an explosion of new cases in Kentucky, the virus seeped into the center and spread like wildfire.
“It started with three veterans and seven staff members, which quickly turned into a larger outbreak,” the governor said earlier this week. The rate of positive tests now appears to be declining, he said.
In a statement posted on their Facebook page Monday, the center said, “We are still battling.”
Poland reports record coronavirus deaths
Poland reported a record high 548 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said on Twitter.
There have been 10,045 deaths in the country, the highest in eastern Europe, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
JHU also reported 25,571 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 691,118.
It's 8 a.m. in New York. Here’s the latest on the pandemic
More than 53 million cases of Covid-19 have been recorded worldwide. On Friday, the US reported 184,514 Covid-19 cases in its worst day of the pandemic, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. This is the highest number of cases reported in a single day in the country since the pandemic began, and continues a four-day streak of record-breaking totals.
The US has surpassed 10.7 million cases and 244,000 deaths, according to JHU.
Covid-19 hospitalizations set a new record across the US: The United States has more people hospitalized with Covid-19 than ever before, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP). There were 68,516 current hospitalizations reported on Friday across the entire US, according to CTP. The seven-day average for current hospitalizations is now 62,123, which is up 20.01% from last week.
Coronavirus pandemic is “national security threat,” Biden Covid-19 board member says: The coronavirus pandemic is a national security threat and President Donald Trump is exacerbating it by refusing to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, Dr. Celine Gounder, a Biden Transition Covid-19 Board member, said Friday.
Recovering Covid-19 patients struggle to return to normal after hospital discharge, study finds: Surviving Covid-19 is hard enough for those who get severely ill from the disease, but returning to normal is a struggle, too, according to research that found survivors were likely to face health and financial hardships even months later.
Russia reports more than 22,000 new cases of coronavirus for the first time: On Saturday, Russia reported 22,702 new Covid-19 cases, the highest number of infections it has reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center.
Poland reports record coronavirus deaths: Poland reported a record high 548 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, the health ministry said on Twitter.
There have been 10,045 deaths in the country according to Johns Hopkins University data – the highest in eastern Europe, while JHU also reported 25,571 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 691,118.
South Korea’s president asks public for cooperation amid Covid-19 surge: South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in urged the public on Friday to cooperate in curbing the growing number of Covid-19 cases. South Korea, which was initially lauded has having kept the pandemic under control, diagnosed 166 local and 39 imported cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 28,338.
South Korea's president asks public for cooperation amid Covid-19 surge
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in urged the public on Friday to cooperate in curbing the growing number of Covid-19 cases.
South Korea diagnosed 166 local and 39 imported cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 28,338. This is the highest daily increase since early September.
Four more deaths have also been reported, bringing the total death toll to 492.
The country – with its combination of widespread testing, aggressive contact tracing, stern public health measures, strict quarantine regime and digital technology – has been widely revered as a success story when it comes to stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
South Korea’s Health Ministry said it is monitoring the trend and will review whether safety measures need to be strengthened.
Recovering Covid-19 patients struggle to return to normal after hospital discharge, study finds
Surviving Covid-19 is hard enough for those who get severely ill from the disease, but returning to normal is a struggle, too, according to new research that found survivors were likely to face health and financial hardships even months later.
A team of scientists led by Dr. Vineet Chopra of the University of Michigan Health System looked at 488 Covid-19 patients treated and released from hospitals in Michigan. They surveyed them about two months after their release, between March 16 and July 1.
Lasting effects beyond hospitalization: A third of the survivors reported ongoing health issues, such as cough, new or worsening conditions and persistent loss of taste or smell, the researchers reported this week in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Nearly half said they were “emotionally affected” by their illness and a small number, 28, sought mental health care after discharge.
Financial impact: Another 36% reported “at least a mild financial impact from their hospitalization.” Of those employed before their illness, 40% said they either lost their job or were too sick to return to work. Just over a quarter of those who returned to work reported reduced hours or modified responsibilities.
“For most patients who survived, ongoing morbidity, including the inability to return to normal activities, physical and emotional symptoms, and financial loss, was common,” Chopra’s team wrote.
“These data confirm that the toll of Covid-19 extends well beyond hospitalization,” the study concluded.
Read the full story:
A couple got married in a hospital parking lot after the groom recovered from Covid-19
When Antionette Brown first saw Henry Bell at a nightclub 14 years ago, she knew he was the one. Although they never married, they commonly referred to each other as husband and wife during that span.
Nothing tore them apart – not even when Bell nearly died after being hospitalized with Covid-19 for nearly two months.
So one day before he was released from HCA Healthcare’s Orange Park Medical Center in Florida, they finally decided to tie the knot in the hospital parking lot surrounded by the health care workers who helped save Bell’s life.
A difficult journey: Bell arrived at the hospital on September 13 after experiencing coronavirus symptoms and was immediately placed on a ventilator. After weeks in the ICU, Brown was forced to decide between placing Bell in a hospice or giving him a tracheostomy, a procedure that involves creating an opening in the neck to place a tube into a person’s windpipe so they can breathe.
When doctors momentarily stopped sedating him so he could help make the decision by squeezing once for a tracheostomy or twice for no, Bell says he didn’t have to think about it for a second.
“There was no decision to make,” Bell, 63, told CNN. “I wanted to live. I chose life.”
Bell says he was sedated for most of the time he was in the hospital. He has no recollection of what happened or what he went through. But he does remember that the moment he woke up, he wanted to make Brown his wife.
The couple married on November 5. Doctors and nurses helped Bell get to the alter, where he was able to stand for the longest time since being hospitalized.
Russia reports more than 22,000 new cases of coronavirus for the first time
Russia on Saturday reported 22,702 new Covid-19 cases, the highest number of infections it has reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center.
The total number of reported Covid-19 infections in Russia as of November 14 is 1,903,253, with 32,834 officially reported deaths.
The previous highest number of cases in a 24-hour period was recorded on Friday, with 21,983 infections.
US governors issue stringent new measures amid record cases and hospitalizations
After weeks of appealing to residents for help in slowing the spread of Covid-19, several governors have now issued stringent new measures to get the virus under control ahead of what some experts predict could be a brutal winter season.
Already, grim indicators offer a glimpse of what’s to come: A little more than a week after the US first topped 100,000 daily infections, it reported a record of more than 184,000 new cases Friday. Hospitalizations also hit a new high – for the fourth consecutive day – with more than 68,500 Covid-19 patients nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project. And the country’s death toll has topped 1,300 at least three times this week.
In New Mexico: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday a temporary “statewide order closing in-person services for all nonessential activities in order to blunt the unprecedented spike of Covid-19 illnesses and to attempt to relieve dramatically escalating strain on hospitals and health care providers across the state.”
In Oregon: Gov. Kate Brown announced a statewide “two-week freeze” Friday, with a list of new measures including limiting gatherings to six people from a maximum of two households, allowing only takeout and delivery for eating and drinking establishments, closing gyms and indoor recreational facilities and requiring businesses to mandate work from home as much as possible.
In Idaho: The governor mobilized the state’s National Guard Friday to help the pandemic response and rolled the state back to a modified Stage 2 of its reopening plan.
In Arkansas: Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the creation of a winter Covid-19 task force in preparation for what’s to come.
And in New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday there will be an emergency meeting this weekend with the state leaders of six northeastern states to discuss additional steps.
Read the full story:
By the time Moderna and Pfizer apply to the FDA, vaccine efficacy data will be even clearer
By the time Moderna and Pfizer apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization for their coronavirus vaccines, there will likely be even more data to show how well the vaccines work, according to two doctors involved with the process.
On Monday, Pfizer announced that 94 participants in their Phase 3 clinical trial had become ill with Covid-19, and the vaccine was more than 90% effective. Wednesday, Moderna announced that 53 participants in its trial had become ill, and efficacy data should be available by the end of the month.
By the time the two companies apply for emergency use authorizations from the FDA, many more participants will have become ill, giving an even clearer picture about how well the vaccine works.
For example, by the time Pfizer sends its data to the FDA, there might be an additional 70 trial participants who will have become sick with Covid-19, instead of just the 94 announced on Monday, according to Dr. Larry Corey, who runs the Covid-19 Prevention Network created by the National Institutes of Health.
How it works: In the trials, half of the participants received the vaccine, and half the placebo, which is a shot of saline that does nothing. Months then went by while the participants were out in their communities, and some of them contracted Covid-19.
An independent board of experts then looks to see how many of the people who became ill received the vaccine and how many received the placebo, which tells you how effective the vaccine is.
More data also gives more information about how the vaccine works for particular subgroups, such as the elderly or racial minorities.
“It will ultimately help answer the question – will this work for me?” said Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The reason so many more participants will develop Covid-19 is because rates in the US have been skyrocketing in recent weeks, Corey said.
Coronavirus pandemic is “national security threat,” Biden Covid-19 board member says
The coronavirus pandemic is a national security threat and President Donald Trump is exacerbating it by refusing to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, Dr. Celine Gounder, a Biden Transition Covid-19 Board member, said Friday.
“I think we’re looking at some couple really tough months ahead,” Gounder told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
The number of Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations is skyrocketing, breaking records day after day this week for daily case counts and hospitalizations.
Trump has so far refused to concede and begin the peaceful transition of power, even though Biden has been projected a clear winner.
Nevada governor tests positive for Covid-19
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak tested positive for Covid-19 Friday, according to a news release from his office.
Sisolak, a Democrat, received a positive result from a rapid test and is awaiting results from a diagnostic PCR test, his office said. He admitted to feeling tired earlier this week, the release said, but he “attributed this to his demanding schedule.” He did not experience any other symptoms.
“It was important to me to notify Nevadans as soon as possible of my positive COVID-19 test results. I am currently not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms and I have returned to my residence to begin the quarantine and isolation process,” Sisolak said in the release.
Before Friday’s test, Sisolak received negative test results on November 2 and 6, his office said.
Read the full story:
“This is a grim day for the country,” says Biden Covid-19 adviser
The coronavirus pandemic is worsening around the United States, and what people do now will have a “profound impact” on controlling the spread of the virus, Dr. Vivek Murthy said Friday.
“This is a grim day for the country, because we’re seeing cases skyrocketing, we’re seeing hospitals fill up and we’re also seeing the death toll march up,” Murthy, co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s newly appointed transition coronavirus advisory board, said.
But it’s not too late to turn things around, Murthy told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
The US hit new records Friday for both new daily diagnoses, at 184,514 and for people in the hospital, with 68,516 current hospitalizations according to the Covid Tracking Project.
“What we do over these next few weeks is going to have a profound impact on whether this spread increases or whether we ultimately control the spread of this virus,” Murthy added.
Murthy said it’s important for people to wear masks, keep a distance from one another and wash their hands as the holiday season starts.
“If you’re thinking about going home for Thanksgiving, ask yourself if you can observe these kind of precautionary practices, because if you can’t, then you may be putting yourself and others at risk,” he said.
Japan reports more than 1,700 Covid-19 cases, another highest daily increase
Japan reported 1,710 new Covid-19 cases Friday, renewing its largest single-day increase in virus infections from the day before, the country’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday.
Here’s a country-wide rundown:
- Japan’s second biggest prefecture Osaka reported 263 cases on Friday.
- Tokyo posted 374 new cases on Friday, the third straight day to surpass 300 cases in the capital.
- The northernmost prefecture Hokkaido reported 235 new cases Friday, just one case below its highest case-load from Thursday.
- The nationwide total stands at 115,695 cases.
Medical experts and the government have been calling on the public for maximum vigilance since the upward trend cases accelerated this week.
Osaka Gov. Yoshifumi Yoshimura said the infection is spreading across generations and urged Osaka residents to follow the basic countermeasures to get through the third wave.
The Japanese government has so far shown no sign of imposing restrictions on economic and social activities. An expert panel said on Friday that part of the reason the country is not declaring a state of emergency yet is because the virus is not spreading particularly fast and hospitals are not full.
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