US hits 12 million cases; Thanksgiving travel not advised
The U.S reported its 12 millionth case of COVID-19 on Saturday, days after the nation surpassed 250,000 deaths from the coronavirus — by far the biggest complete on the earth. Experts say it can worsen.
“Cases and deaths continue to increase steadily in most states,” a Thursday Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation briefing says. “The pace of increase is faster than we expected, leading us to revise upward our forecast of deaths by March 1 to 471,000.”
The influential mannequin’s projections assume 40 states will reinstate social distancing mandates by that point. If they do not, IHME researchers say deaths and instances will likely be even larger.
Meanwhile, quite a few high-profile political figures together with Donald Trump Jr. have examined constructive for COVID-19 in latest days. Florida Sen. Rick Scott introduced Friday he has examined constructive. He is the second Republican senator, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, to announce constructive assessments this week.
And Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew, introduced Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19, a day after he attended a information convention along with his father and different members of President Donald Trump’s authorized group alleging baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
? Today’s numbers: The U.S. has reported greater than 12 million instances and greater than 255,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The international totals: 57.9 million instances and 1.37 million deaths.
?️ Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak in your state.
? What we’re studying: It’s a tough time to be in faculty. Now greater than ever, college students (*12*).
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Vermont solely state with fewer than 10K instances
Maine has reported its 10,000th case of COVID-19, leaving Vermont as the only state below that mark. Texas and California have each reported round 1.1 million instances, and Florida was on monitor to hit 1 million instances in a single or two weeks.
As of Friday night, 42 states reported extra new instances prior to now week than the week earlier than, and 44 reported a better fee of assessments coming again constructive, according to Johns Hopkins.
12M Americans to lose jobless help after Christmas if Congress fails to behave
Millions of jobless Americans could suddenly be cut off from their unemployment benefit the day after Christmas if Congress fails to increase reduction packages, with many going through lasting scars because the worst pandemic in a century threatens to deepen their financial ache.
About 12 million employees might lose certainly one of two crucial unemployment lifelines from the CARES Act on Dec. 26, together with 7.3 million who could possibly be lower off from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and 4.6 million who could lose Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, based on estimates from The Century Foundation, a nonprofit assume tank.
The loss in jobless help would come as different stimulus reduction is ready to run out after December, together with a federal ban on rental evictions that might put 30 to 40 million individuals susceptible to eviction as moratoriums expire, based on the Aspen Institute, one other assume tank.
– Jessica Menton
Kansas counties that opted out of face masks order noticed COVID-19 instances rise
We already know that carrying face masks in public areas slows the unfold of COVID-19. And now the coronavirus situation in Kansas is providing further proof.
Gov. Laura Kelly issued a face masks mandate in early July, and the counties that upheld the order noticed a decline in instances, whereas the counties that opted out noticed instances rise, based on a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday.
“Countywide mask mandates appear to have contributed to the mitigation of COVID-19 transmission in mandated counties,” based on the report, which analyzed county-level information one month earlier than, and after, the governor’s mandate went into impact.
As of mid-August, 24 of Kansas’s 105 counties had abided by the state mandate or adopted their very own masks mandate, and 81 counties had opted out, as Kansas regulation permits. At that point, the variety of new each day instances per capita – calculated as a 7-day rolling common – had decreased a mean of 6% amongst counties with a masks mandate and elevated by 100% in counties and not using a mandate. Read more.
Canada’s largest metropolis going again on lockdown
The province of Ontario introduced Friday that Toronto and the encompassing Peel Region will go into lockdown on Monday.
Premier Doug Ford and well being officers say they gained’t permit indoor organized occasions or social gatherings aside from members of the identical family. Restaurants and bars will solely be allowed to supply takeout and supply. Retail will solely be open for curbside pickup or supply besides for giant field shops.
The stricter measures come as Ontario experiences 1,418 new instances of COVID-19 Friday, together with 393 in Toronto and 400 new instances in Peel Region. Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says Ontario flattened the epidemic curve earlier than and he is assured it may be completed once more.
Meanwhile, Russia on Saturday reported a brand new each day excessive in infections and deaths. North Macedonia declared its first-ever nationwide state of emergency. Japan is scaling again on a government-backed marketing campaign to encourage travel and eating out. And instances are surging in South Korea and New Delhi, India.
– The Associated Press
Family members returning house carry larger threat for Thanksgiving gatherings
At a time when Americans are pondering easy methods to have a good time Thanksgiving safely amid the nation’s worst surge in coronavirus instances, many families will be faced with yet another complicating factor: the return house of scholars.
Colleges and universities have reported 252,000-plus instances for the reason that pandemic started, based on a New York Times tracker. Returning college students – whether or not they lived in dorms or off-campus housing within the fall time period – “exponentially increase the risk (of infection),” particularly in the event that they take some type of mass transportation to get again house.
That’s the evaluation of Dr. Teresa Bartlett, senior medical officer for the claims administration agency Sedgwick, who advises corporations about medical methods and security practices. Like different specialists within the subject, Bartlett is worried that vacation gatherings, mixed with pandemic fatigue and the necessity to transfer indoors because the climate will get colder, will exacerbate what’s already a serious nationwide spike in COVID-19 instances. Read more.
Cuomo to obtain International Emmy for COVID-19 briefings
And the International Emmy goes to: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo, a Democrat whose each day briefings on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic acquired in depth airplay throughout the nation, will obtain the International Emmy Founders Award.
The governor is being acknowledged partly for his use of tv to tell individuals of the newest coronavirus updates on the top of the state’s outbreak in March and April, based on The International Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences, which granted him the award.
Cuomo held greater than 100 consecutive days of COVID-19 briefings, lots of which had been broadcast on cable information networks internationally. The governor will obtain the International Emmy throughout a digital award ceremony Monday. It’s a separate ceremony from the better-known Primetime and Daytime Emmys, which concentrate on American tv.
– Jon Campbell, New York State Team
Celebrating Thanksgiving amid a pandemic? We’ve completed it earlier than
On Thanksgiving greater than a century in the past, many Americans, like in the present day, had been residing below varied phases of quarantines and face masks orders. Millions had been mourning family members. And well being officers in lots of cities had been issuing the identical vacation warning: Stay house and keep secure.
“See that Thanksgiving celebrations are restricted as much as possible so as to prevent another flare-up,” stated a discover within the Omaha World Herald on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1918.
By late November of 1918, the U.S. – within the midst of the suffrage motion, Jim Crow and the tail finish of WWI – was battling the ebbing second wave of the H1N1 influenza epidemic, also called the Spanish flu. Read about how Americans celebrated Thanksgiving that 12 months, and what occurred subsequent.
Texas National Guard to offer help to El Paso morgues throughout COVID-19 disaster
The Texas National Guard will be providing help to El Paso morgues because the area continues to be slammed by COVID-19 deaths.
“After completing an assessment of the situation on the ground in El Paso County this week, the state has mobilized a team of 36 Texas National Guard personnel to provide mortuary affairs support beginning at 9 o’clock tomorrow (Saturday) morning,” Seth Christensen, spokesperson for the Texas Division of Emergency Management, stated.
After the announcement, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego requested further help from Gov. Greg Abbott within the type of leeway to impose some restrictions to curb the unfold of COVID-19. Samaniego stated in a letter to the governor’s workplace that his earlier order that was ended by an appellate court docket was completed so erroneously and the order was not inconsistent with Abbott’s statewide restrictions.
– El Paso Times
Donald Trump Jr. assessments constructive for COVID-19
President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, based on his spokesman.
“Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result. He’s been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines,” his workplace stated in an announcement.
Trump Jr. is the newest individual near the president to check constructive in latest days. Earlier on Friday, Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew, introduced he additionally examined constructive a day after attending a press convention held by his father on the Republican National Committee headquarters.
The White House has struggled to comprise not less than three outbreaks of the virus in latest months. Trump was hospitalized after he examined constructive, and several other aides have since been contaminated.
– David Jackson
Pfizer takes candidate vaccine to FDA for emergency authorization
Pfizer stated Friday it is filing for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine, the following step in bringing its candidate vaccine to market. Health and different frontline employees could get the vaccine as soon as December however reaching everybody might take as much as a 12 months.
The transfer follows an announcement from Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech that its vaccine seems 95% efficient towards the coronavirus. Also this week, drug firm Moderna released positive news, with its vaccine additionally exhibiting a excessive fee of efficacy. Both candidates, every of which require two pictures, defend greater than 90% of these immunized, self-reported outcomes point out.
The FDA and an unbiased advisory board will evaluate Pfizer’s utility earlier than the vaccine is ready to get into peoples’ arms.
“If we do get people vaccinated to a high degree, then you can start talking about this umbrella or blanket of protection on society that would diminish dramatically the risk of a person being exposed or even being infected,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s prime infectious illness knowledgeable, told USA TODAY earlier this week.
– Cara Richardson
Fauci says Santa Claus will not be spreading COVID-19 this Christmas
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s main infectious illness knowledgeable, stated Santa Claus is coming to city. And he’s not bringing COVID-19.
It ought to come as no shock. As kids already know, Santa is superhuman. He flies all over the world in a single night time, delivers tens of millions of toys and eats his weight in cookies.
But with tens of millions of Americans already sick with COVID-19, kids have been nervous about Santa, particularly this Christmas Eve when he visits tens of millions of houses. And there is no denying that Santa, as a result of he’s older and chubby, would at first look seem like at larger threat of growing extreme illness from COVID-19.
Fauci is telling children not to fret, although. “Santa is not going to be spreading any infections to anybody,” he stated.
— Adrianna Rodriguez and Grace Hauck
CDC recommends towards vacation travel
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending against travel for Thanksgiving. Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident supervisor, stated the “tragedy that could happen” is that members of the family might find yourself severely in poor health, hospitalized or dying. The CDC’s warning is the newest and most excessive profile in regards to the dangers of touring as coronavirus instances rise nationwide. Officials in California, Illinois and different states have urged residents to keep away from nonessential travel at the same time as airways tout vacation fare offers.
“These times are tough, it’s been a long outbreak, almost 11 months, and we understand people are tired,” Walke stated. “But this year we’re asking them to limit their travel.”
– Sara M. Moniuszko
COVID-19 assets from USA TODAY
Contributing: The Associated Press
