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COVID-19 alert
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What to Know
- Democratic and Republican lawmakers are now looking toward must-pass spending bills as their best chance to approve coronavirus relief this year.
- New U.S. cases topped 180,000 for the first time and more than 1,400 deaths were reported on Friday.
- A novel container from Corning is set to play important role in protecting vaccines from broken glass, impurities and cracks.
- New York City public schools could close as soon as Monday.
- European countries are trying to keep schools open, believing the cost to children of closing classrooms outweighs the health risks.
- A Texas appeals court ruled that El Paso can’t order residents to stay at home and shut nonessential businesses.
The number of newly reported coronavirus infections in the U.S. surged to another record Friday, notching a 20% increase from the tally a day earlier.
With the U.S. reporting more than 100,000 new cases each day over the past 11 days, governors, mayors and other officials this week unveiled new measures to help curb the pathogen.
“It’s on fire. We’ve got to slow it down,” Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told The Wall Street Journal. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Our spring surge and summer surge were nowhere like this.
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Top 180,000 for the First Time
The number of newly reported coronavirus infections in the U.S. surged to another record Friday, notching a 20% increase from the tally a day earlier.
The 184,514 newly reported infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, bring the U.S. total to more than 10.8 million. The U.S. reported 153,496 cases on Thursday.
The number of people dying in the U.S. of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is increasing as well. More than 1,400 deaths were reported on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins data, the highest death toll in 10 days. However, that number remains lower than the 2,606 peak in daily deaths recorded in April. All told, more than 244,000 people have died of the disease in the U.S.
States in the Midwest are being hit particularly hard, including Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas.
With the U.S. reporting more than 100,000 new cases each day over the past 11 days, governors, mayors and other officials this week unveiled new measures to help curb the pathogen.
“It’s on fire. We’ve got to slow it down,” Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told The Wall Street Journal. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Our spring surge and summer surge were nowhere like this.
In North Dakota on Friday, Gov. Doug Burgum ordered a statewide mask mandate and imposed several business restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has stressed the state’s hospital capacity.
The order from Mr. Burgum, a Republican, requires residents to wear face coverings in indoor businesses and indoor public settings, as well as outdoor public settings where physical distancing isn’t possible.
In Nevada, Gov. Steve Sisolak said Friday he tested positive after being screened for Covid-19. In a statement, Mr. Sisolak, a Democrat, said he tested positive from a rapid test. He awaits the results of a diagnostic PCR test. He said he isn't experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms at this time.
More Measures Taken by States to Curb Virus Spread
With the U.S. reporting more than 100,000 new cases each day over the past 10 days, governors, mayors and other officials this week announced new measures to try to help curb the pathogen.
Here’s a look at a few of the steps taken across the country Friday:
New Mexico: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the state will begin a two-week shutdown of all nonessential activities Monday to try to address what state officials described as "dramatically escalating strains on hospitals and health care providers."
The Democratic governor instructed residents to leave their homes only for essential activities and ordered businesses that provide such services to operate at 25% capacity. New Mexico's total Covid-19 hospitalizations have tripled in the past four weeks and 182 people died from the virus over the past two weeks, more than double the number of Covid-19 fatalities from the prior two-week period, state officials said.
Oregon: Gov. Kate Brown announced a tightening of restrictions in the state beginning Wednesday, including limiting restaurants to takeout only, closing fitness centers and restricting capacity in stores and houses of worship.
"We've seen an alarming spike in both cases and Covid-19 hospitalizations,” Ms. Brown, a Democrat, said Friday. “We're about to face what might be the roughest days of the pandemic.”
Ms. Brown, along with state leaders in California and Washington, also announced a new travel advisory that requires visitors and residents returning to the West Coast to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
Virginia: Gov. Ralph Northam introduced new restrictions on gatherings and an expanded mask mandate Friday as cases and positivity rates rose in the state and nationwide.
Beginning midnight on Sunday, public and private gatherings in Virginia will be restricted to 25 people, down from 250 in the state’s latest guidance. The state’s mask mandate will now be applied to everyone ages 5 and older, rather than ages 10 and older. And the sale, consumption and possession of alcohol at restaurants, breweries and other venues won’t be allowed after 10 p.m.
“While our cases may not be rising as rapidly as some states, I do not intend to wait until they are,” Mr. Northam said. “We are acting now so things do not get worse.”
New York: The New York State court system on Friday unveiled plans to indefinitely halt most in-person proceedings after a surge in Covid-19 cases.
“Starting next week, no new prospective trial jurors, both criminal and civil, will be summoned for jury service,” a memo from Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks said, citing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent instructions to limit groups of people from congregating.
Friday’s directive came less than a month after the court system resumed criminal jury trials following a seven-month hiatus. According to the memo, continuing criminal and civil trials will be completed in person, as planned, and bench trials and hearings will be finished remotely.
“As conditions change, we of course, will revisit the situation,” Judge Marks wrote.
--Deanna Paul contributed to this article.
Trump Says Vaccine to Be Widely Available as Soon as April
President Trump on Friday sought to reassure Americans that a Covid-19 vaccine would soon be available to the public, as cases and hospitalizations reached record highs in the U.S.
At a news conference from the White House’s Rose Garden, Mr. Trump said a Covid-19 vaccine would be widely available as soon as April. He said the administration expects to be ready to distribute tens of millions of doses once an emergency-use authorization for the vaccine is approved. The vaccine will be offered first to front-line workers, the elderly and other high-risk members of the public.
The president touted a vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE, which an early analysis showed to be more than 90% effective in protecting people from Covid-19.
Mr. Trump sought to take credit for Pfizer’s success, asserting that it was part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration program to quickly develop a vaccine.
“Pfizer said it wasn’t part of Warp Speed, but that turned out to be an unfortunate misrepresentation,” Mr. Trump said.
Pfizer, whose vaccine was developed in partnership with BioNTech, didn't receive any U.S. support for research and development or manufacturing. In July, the companies said the U.S. agreed to pay them $1.95 billion for 100 million doses following authorization or approval of the shots.
In response to Mr. Trump's comment, a Pfizer spokeswoman noted that the company self-funded its development and manufacturing of the vaccine, adding that it was proud to be participating in the government's program "as a supplier of a potential Covid-19 vaccine."
Mr. Trump also took a shot at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, raising the prospect that the Democrat might not accept a vaccine once it is approved. “He wants to take his time on the vaccine. He doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Cuomo, adding, “We won’t be delivering it to New York until we have authorization to do so and that pains me to say that.”
Mr. Cuomo, during an interview with MSNBC, said New York is one of several states that has set up an independent review board to analyze the vaccine while it is being reviewed by the federal government to ensure that the public has confidence in the vaccine.
Mr. Trump "has issues with New York and he likes to point to New York," Mr. Cuomo said. "But this is his issue, it's his credibility issue, it's the fear that he politicized the health process of this nation, which is a well-founded fear."
The president has come under criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with experts arguing that he hasn't taken the virus threat seriously and didn't do enough early on to put in place a nationwide testing program. The U.S. leads the world in coronavirus deaths and cases.
Moncef Slaoui, chief advisor for Operation Warp Speed, said at the president's news conference he expects there will be enough vaccine doses available to vaccinate about 20 million Americans during December.
He said this would include doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as another vaccine from Moderna Inc. Moderna might report pivotal study results next week, Mr. Slaoui said. The two vaccines could receive U.S. emergency-use authorizations within the next few weeks, he said.
Mr. Slaoui said he expects the vaccine supply to increase after December, particularly if additional vaccines in development receive authorization.
Jared Hopkins and Peter Loftus contributed to this article.
New Restrictions and Record-Setting Cases, Hospitalizations: The U.S. Week in Covid-19
The spread of the coronavirus across the U.S. swiftly accelerated this week, prompting state and local officials to levy new restrictions as the nation reported more than 100,000 new cases each day over the past 10 days.
More than 150,000 new cases of Covid-19 were reported Thursday, a record-breaking milestone that is more than triple the number of daily cases reported on average in early October, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. In 48 states and Washington, D.C., the pace of new cases recorded over the past week rose faster than the week prior, signaling increased levels of spread nationwide.
Last Friday, as the U.S. awaited results from the 2020 presidential race, the seven-day average of new cases reported in the nation daily sat at 103,398. In less than a week, that average has grown by nearly 30,000, to an average of 131,445 new cases Thursday.
A record 67,096 coronavirus patients were being treated in hospitals Thursday, with 12,796 of those patients in intensive-care units, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The surge in hospitalizations threatens to overwhelm hospitals and stretch health-care workers thin.
Hospitals in hard-hit areas like Wisconsin and North Dakota have been inundated with coronavirus patients. Hospital capacity in North Dakota is at 100%, the governor said earlier this week. In El Paso, Texas, 67 patients have been airlifted to other hospitals in the state and New Mexico to make more room, an official from the city’s Office of Emergency Management said Thursday.
Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer at University of Wisconsin Health in Madison, Wisc., said he is grappling daily with how to manage the surge in new hospitalizations -- and is worried about the future.
“We are on this path toward potentially having to ration care. It just seems like that’s impossible; that cannot happen in a country like ours. And I just ask myself, ‘Why are we in a position where we’re trying to figure out who we can take the best care of and who are we going to compromise care on?’” said Dr. Pothof.
“Not there today,” he added. “But, I don’t know, I don’t have a plan that gets me feeling confident that’s not the direction that we’re heading.”
As cases began to rise last month, some epidemiologists said the severity of this new tide of new coronavirus infections was avoidable. But widespread pandemic fatigue has fueled more risky behavior and flouting of basic guidelines like social distancing, scientists and public-health officials say. Inconsistent messaging from federal and local authorities and the politicization of preventive measures have led to confusion throughout the pandemic. Some epidemiologists have called restrictions and public health a false dichotomy.
The effects of new measures announced this week won’t be known for several more weeks due to the incubation period of Covid-19 and other factors. Governors in states including New York, New Mexico, Virginia, Iowa, Utah, Minnesota, Oregon, Indiana, Nebraska and Ohio, as well as city leaders in Chicago, Newark, N.J., and Saint Louis, announced new restrictions this week in varying degrees.
Other governors said they are considering changes, as they urged residents to exercise caution. “We’ve relied on people to be responsible, and they’re being irresponsible,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said Friday.
School districts in Detroit, Boston and Baltimore have announced plans to return to remote learning or lessen in-person instruction, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told parents to prepare for public schools to close as soon as Monday.
James Lawler, an infectious-disease physician and co-director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said more direct mandates from government officials and compliance with these strategies are needed to effectively slow the spread of the virus.
“Ultimately, we need people to take these actions seriously and to do them,” Dr. Lawler said.
“If we can get people to understand the fact that this is just a virus, it’s not a political statement, it doesn’t really care who you voted for,” he added. “We have lots of people, I’m willing to bet, in our hospital right now who voted for both political parties in our election, and they’re being intubated and cared for by the same health-care team.”
Europe Appears to Curb Covid-19 Spread
Europe’s effort to turn back a resurgent pandemic seems to be starting to pay off.
A second wave of infections starting in late summer again made Europe the center of the pandemic. Governments responded by gradually tightening restrictions on daily life and their economies over the fall, culminating in recent weeks with the reimposition of nationwide lockdowns similar—if less stringent—to those put in place in the spring.
Now, caseloads appear to have peaked across the region as a whole and in some countries are falling back rapidly. Progress is uneven, though, and leaders are wary of letting their guard down too soon.
“This positive trend is recent, and therefore fragile, and will only produce results if it lasts,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday. “It would be irresponsible to lift or loosen these measures now.”
Governments are hoping that by bringing caseloads down significantly they can prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed and make it easier to keep on top of the pandemic with tools such as testing and contact tracing. The added hope now is a vaccine might become available within months.
Yet, even though the restrictions are less strict than earlier in the year, it isn’t clear whether widespread compliance will be sustained for long enough to drive down infections sufficiently—particularly with holidays approaching.
New York City Parents Should Prepare for School Shutdown, Mayor Says
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday urged all parents of public-school students to prepare by Monday for fully remote learning, saying the city’s schools were more likely to close because of rising Covid-19 cases.
The share of people in the city testing positive for Covid-19 hit 2.83% over a seven-day average, and the daily rate was 3.09%, according to the most recently released data, which ran through Wednesday. The city has set a threshold to stop in-person learning at schools if the seven-day average positivity rate reaches 3% positivity.
Mr. de Blasio said in a radio interview that parents should have a back-up plan for their children as early as Monday.
“My hope is that if we all do what we have to do in the city as a whole that we can overcome this in a matter of weeks," the Democratic mayor said.
The city’s school system--the largest in the nation--will also release a new reopening plan in the coming days if in-person class time stops, he said. Schools wouldn’t automatically reopen if the weekly average dips below 3%, according to the mayor.
School districts nationwide are split on their closing plans as community infection rates vary and transmission in many locations has been relatively contained.
Cities such as Detroit, Boston and Baltimore have shut down or scaled back in-person learning because of increases in coronavirus cases. Other large school systems including Chicago and Philadelphia that didn’t reopen schools during the fall term are deciding to keep students at home longer.
Meanwhile, schools in Oregon, Texas and elsewhere are keeping schools open despite increases in infections.
Read the full article.
J&J Plans Second Trial for Covid-19 Vaccine, Using Two Doses
Johnson & Johnson is planning to start a second large clinical trial soon for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, this time testing whether two doses protect people from disease, rather than the single dose being tested in another large study that is ongoing.
J&J has said early-stage studies showed that a single dose of its vaccine could provide protection, and that such a shot could make a mass vaccination campaign in a pandemic emergency easier because people wouldn't have to come back for a second injection. And a single shot would conserve supplies as J&J ramps up manufacturing enough doses to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people globally.
However, J&J also wants to test two doses of the vaccine in case the second dose serves as a booster that provides longer-lasting protection than a single dose, Joaquin Duato, vice chairman of J&J's executive committee, said at an investor conference this week.
For the new Phase 3 trial, J&J is planning to enroll up to 30,000 people in the U.S. and several other countries, including the U.K. and Germany, according to a summary of its design posted this month on a federal database of clinical studies.
Study subjects will receive two doses of either J&J's vaccine or a placebo, about eight weeks apart. Researchers will measure the vaccine's efficacy by tracking whether it reduces cases of moderate to severe Covid-19 starting at least two weeks after the second dose, compared with the placebo. Study subjects will be tracked for more than two years.
A J&J spokesman said the new study hasn't begun. J&J has said it could have initial results of the earlier large study by early 2021, with potential availability of doses for wider use soon afterward, if the federal government authorizes its emergency use.
J&J started the first Phase 3 trial in September, aiming to enroll up to 60,000 people and testing whether a single dose of the vaccine was protective. That study was paused in October after a study volunteer developed an unexplained illness. The study resumed after J&J concluded there was no evidence the vaccine caused the medical event.
Most other large trials of experimental Covid-19 vaccines, including those developed by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., are testing two-dose regimens, given three or four weeks apart. Pfizer this week reported positive interim results showing its vaccine was protective, and Moderna may report its first interim results soon.
Covid-19 Vaccine Makers Face Russian, North Korean Cyberattacks, Microsoft Says
Cyberattacks originating in Russia and North Korea in recent months have targeted online accounts at seven companies researching Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, according to Microsoft Corp.—in some cases successfully.
Microsoft declined to name the targets or say what information may have been gleaned, but said the seven are leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers operating in the U.S., Canada, France, India and South Korea.
“Among the targets, the majority are vaccine makers that have Covid-19 vaccines in various stages of clinical trials,” the company said in a draft of a blog post set to be published Friday.
The attacks place an extra burden on drugmakers rushing to develop weapons to fight a virus that has infected close to 53 million people world-wide, including more than 10 million in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Team USA Isn’t Counting on a Vaccine for Tokyo Olympics
Eight months is a blip in the universe of Olympic planning. And the eight months remaining before next summer’s Tokyo Olympics is probably not enough for promising coronavirus vaccines to have an impact on how and whether the Games take place.
News this week that Pfizer and partner BioNTech could seek health regulators’ authorization of their vaccine by end of November has buoyed hopes of a return to normal life within months.
But even if that and other vaccines continue to progress, Olympic officials think there is not nearly enough time to vaccinate everyone—thousands and thousands of people—who would participate in next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s probable that by the time the Olympics and Paralympics roll around, there will only be a partial vaccination around the world,” said Jonathan Finnoff, chief medical officer of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “So you have to think about it as a non-vaccinated Games.”
The Tokyo Games are scheduled to start July 23, 2021, after being postponed from last summer.
Read the full article.
Some Grocers Bring Back Purchase Limits
Grocery stores are reinstating purchase limits on items like paper towels or soap for the first time since the spring, as consumers stock up on staples amid rising Covid-19 cases.
With people staying at home more, retailers say there is renewed demand for paper products and frozen foods. Stores also are reporting new shortages in staple cooking ingredients like butter and spices.
Kroger, the nation’s largest grocer, and Publix Super Markets, a chain of more than 1,200 stores in the Southeast, reinstated limits on bath tissue and paper towels last week. Kroger also brought back limits on hand soap and disinfectant wipes. Recently, there has been some shortage of paper and cleaning products as coronavirus cases surge, said Kevin Hourican, chief executive of food-service distributor Sysco.
States Impose New Measures to Contain Covid-19 Surge
Governors in New York, Maryland, Minnesota, Iowa, Utah and other states are slapping new restrictions on daily life amid a resurgence of the coronavirus that some officials say is the most widespread and intense since March.
“It’s on fire. We’ve got to slow it down,” Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in an interview. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Our spring surge and summer surge were nowhere like this.”
On Thursday, Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a 30-day stay-at-home advisory while Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, also a Democrat, asked residents statewide to stay home as much as possible.
Mr. DeWine imposed a stricter mask order that allows authorities to briefly close businesses that are repeat violators, and put new restrictions on social gatherings such as wedding receptions and banquets. He said he might close bars, restaurants and fitness centers—places where it is difficult to maintain mask wearing—if “the current trend continues.”
Coronavirus Cases Hit Record in Japan, Rise in South Korea
Coronavirus cases are surging in Japan and South Korea, reaching levels not seen in months, as the weather turns colder and people gather indoors.
Japan on Friday reported 1,649 new cases, an all-time high, surpassing the previous daily record set on Aug. 7.
Clusters of infections have been linked to a wide range of places, including restaurants, offices, nursing homes and hospitals across Japan. The hardest hit areas in the latest wave of infections are Tokyo and Osaka, as well as Aichi prefecture—which includes the city of Nagoya—and the northern island of Hokkaido.
On Friday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to take preventive measures against the virus, warning that the upward trend in new cases was intensifying. Despite the rising caseloads, Mr. Suga said there wasn’t yet a need to issue a new state of emergency.
South Korea has also kept its current social-distancing measures in place, despite a sharp rise in cases. On Friday, it reported 191 new infections—its highest number in 70 days.
Health officials are concerned about large gatherings planned for this weekend in Seoul and other cities by labor and civic groups—which could total about 100,000 attendees. On Friday, Seoul rolled out a new mask mandate that applies to outdoor rallies as well public transportation and certain indoor venues, with violators liable to fines of about $90.
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