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Nov. 19 Coronavirus updates: Latest pandemic news and information

November 19 news about the coronavirus pandemic. The death rate surges in the U.S. as advancements in testing and potential vaccines await approval by the FDA.
Image: COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit Within A Houston Hospital Cares For Patients As Cases Continue To Rise
A medical staff member treats a patient suffering from coronavirus in the Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at United Memorial Medical Center on Nov. 16, 2020 in Houston.Go Nakamura / Getty Images

This live coverage has ended. Continue reading the latest Covid-19 news here.

The latest Covid-19 data and coverage:

Mask mandates work against Covid spread. CDC offers evidence

Government mandates that require people to wear masks in public can slow the spread of Covid-19, according to a new report published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Communities that don't enact such orders may face dramatic increases in new cases.

The report explored the striking differences among counties in Kansas during the summer: Some adopted mask mandates, while others did not.

Click here to read the full story

Smithsonian museums, National Zoo closing again

Those hoping to visit the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and other Smithsonian facilities during the holidays could be out of luck as the Covid-19 pandemic will close them starting Monday.

The Smithsonian Institute in a statement Thursday cited the rising number of cases in the D.C. region and across the country. No reopening date was announced due to the changing nature of the situation.

"The Institution's top priority is to protect the health and safety of its visitors and staff," it said.

The Smithsonian Institute closed the zoo and museums in March, so Monday's closing affects the zoo and seven other facilities that had reopened with new procedures in place. 

Covid-19 cases have been rising all over the country, breaking daily records, prompting some governments to announce curfews or other restrictions, and leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to urge people to not travel for Thanksgiving. More than 253,000 people in the U.S. have died.

Senior Pentagon official tests positive after meeting with Lithuania's defense minister

Mosheh Gains

Tim Stelloh and Mosheh Gains

A senior Pentagon official tested positive for coronavirus after a meeting last week with Lithuania’s defense minister, who has also tested positive for the virus, the Defense Department said Thursday.

The U.S. official to test positive is Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, who is performing the duties of Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the Pentagon said. Tata, who tested positive on two successive tests, will quarantine for two weeks, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Other top U.S. officials who met the Lithuanian minister, Raimundas Karoblis, on Nov. 13 and Nov. 16 include Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller and the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The Pentagon said it is testing department personnel who had contact with Tata and Karoblis. The statement does not say if Miller has been tested, though it says he will not self-isolate because protocols developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were followed during their bilateral meeting.

The military leaders will also not self-isolate “based on testing and mitigation measures that were in place,” the statement says.

Maddow: Don't get this thing. Do whatever you can to keep from getting it.

Remdesivir shouldn't be used on hospitalized Covid-19 patients, WHO advises

Reuters and Erika Edwards

The antiviral remdesivir should not be used as treatment for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, the World Health Organization said Thursday, only a month after the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug to treat patients over age 12 who are hospitalized with Covid-19.

Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, and the steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorized to treat Covid-19 patients. But a recent massive global study of remdesivir's effectiveness, run by the WHO, showed that remdesivir had little or no impact on hospitalized patients, contradicting previous trials.

"Remdesivir has no meaningful effect on mortality or on other important outcomes for patients, such as the need for mechanical ventilation or time to clinical improvement," experts from the WHO Guideline Development Group wrote in a statement. The review was published in The BMJ, a medical journal.

Read the full story. 

White House coronavirus task force briefing ends without Q&A

Dozens of U.S. Air Force nurses dispatched to North Dakota

Dozens of U.S. Air Force nurses are being dispatched to North Dakota as the coronavirus continues to surge across the state and hospitals face dire shortages of medical workers.

In a statement, the office of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said that 60 medical personnel — most of them nurses — will be deployed Saturday to at least six hospitals in four cities: Grand Forks, Fargo, Minot and Bismark. The deployment comes after federal officials granted a request for assistance from Burgum.

“With hospitals projecting a surge in COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks, we’re deeply grateful to the Department of Defense and FEMA for granting our request for additional resources to help save lives and alleviate the immense pressure on North Dakota’s hospitals and long-term care facilities,” Burgum said.

The state has seen a steep rise in cases since last month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Roughly eight percent of the state’s population has tested positive for the virus, the tally shows. Nearly 800 people have died.

North Dakota has been so short-staffed on medical workers that last week Burgum announced that personnel who have tested positive for the disease can continue working in coronavirus units, a move criticized by local nurses.

“Nurses are saying: ‘If we get positive at this point, we want to take the break. It’s a welcome break," the head of the state’s nursing association, Tessa Johnson, told NBC News. "We’re exhausted, we’re overworked, we need the rest. So, how can I get positive and come down with this disease and I still continue going at my best?’”

Mexico becomes fourth country with 100,000 Covid deaths

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Mexico passed the 100,000 mark in COVID-19 deaths Thursday, becoming only the fourth country — behind the United States, Brazil and India — to do so.

José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, announced that Mexico had 100,104 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

But the living will bear the scars too: along with their lost friends and loved ones, many surviving coronavirus victims in Mexico say the psychosis caused by the pandemic is one of the most lasting effects.

Mexico resembles a divided country, where some people are so unconcerned they won’t wear masks, while others are so scared they descend into abject terror at the first sign of shortness of breath.

Photo: Video call prayer with Covid-19 patient in hospital

Image:
Chaplain Kevin Deegan prays for Covid-19 patient Pedro Basulto while on a video call with the patient's daughter, Grace, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles on Thursday. "These video calls have been a lifeline for families," said Deegan. "It can be emotionally exhausting and very draining, but it also an honor to be a bridge for the family."Jae C. Hong / AP

 

New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota among the states that set daily records Thursday

On a day the CDC warned those in the U.S. to not travel on Thanksgiving, six states have set new daily records for Covid-19 cases or deaths.

The states and the counts:

  • Kentucky with 3,637 cases
  • Maryland with 2,912 cases
  • 72 reported dead in Minnesota
  • 2,416 new cases in Nevada
  • 4,491 new cases in New Jersey
  • Vermont reported 149 new cases

Track the Covid-19 surges here.

Pfizer expected to submit vaccine for approval on Friday, distribution to begin hours after authorization

Kasie Hunt

Tim Stelloh and Kasie Hunt

Pfizer could submit its vaccine for emergency approval as soon as Friday and distribution and injection will begin hours after federal regulators authorize it, officials said Thursday at the first White House coronavirus task force briefing in four months.

Gen. Gus Perna, a four star U.S. Army general and top official in the White House’s Operation Warp Speed, said that shipping will begin 24 hours after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues emergency use authorization for vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer.

Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the task force, said that injection of the vaccines will begin 24 hours after that.  

"We could be a matter of a few short weeks away for a vaccine being available," Pence said.

Operation Warp Speed expects to vaccinate 20 million Americans against coronavirus by the end of December, though they have not briefed President-elect Biden’s transition team on the effort and don’t plan to do so at this point, Trump administration officials told senators Thursday.

Pfizer is expected to apply for the authorization on Friday, according to Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services. Moderna is expected to file soon after that, he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that a panel of independent experts “who have no allegiance to anybody” had deemed data showing that the vaccines were highly effective “to be sound.”

That data will now be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee before the department issues the emergency authorization.

President Donald Trump, who has said little about a recent surge in coronavirus cases across the United States, did not appear at the briefing and officials did not take questions from reporters.

Parents upset after NYC schools close due to surge

Many New York City parents are outraged that all in-person instruction was abruptly halted at city schools, with many expressing their frustrations over the decision and having no time to prepare for it.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the shutdown Wednesday.

Leah Truell, a 34-year-old single mother in Staten Island, said she learned of the news after she left work. Her son, Preston, is part of the blended learning system — a mix of remote and in-person classes — and was supposed to go back to school at P.S. 45 John Tyler on Monday.

Truell, who works with Silver Lake Head Start, now has to quickly make arrangements for her son to switch to fully remote learning. She said she's hoping a friend will be able to step in and help.

"That’s not enough time. They don’t take into consideration single parents, those of us who don’t have any other option, no family, or anything like that," she said during a phone interview Thursday. "It’s a very stressful situation.”

Read the full story.

California announces limited stay-at-home order

Amid an alarming increase in Covid-19 cases across California, Gov. Gavin Newsom's office announced a limited stay-at-home order that will go into effect Saturday night.

The order requires all non-essential work, movement and gatherings to stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the counties hardest hit by the pandemic, including Los Angeles County. 

“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic, and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm,” Newsom said Thursday in a statement. “It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We’ve done it before and we must do it again.”

He did not say how the order would be enforced. The directive does not prevent people from the same household from leaving their residence as long as they don't interact with people from outside their home. In other words, they can still walk their dog during those hours.

It comes as California's largest and most populous county, Los Angeles, reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the most the county has seen on any single day since the pandemic started. L.A. County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis also announced 1,238 new Covid-related hospitalizations.

Statewide, more than 1 million coronavirus cases and 18,469 deaths have been confirmed as of Thursday, according to NBC News counts.

Archdiocese of New York sues N.Y.C.’s Department of Education for failing to provide required Covid testing

The Archdiocese of New York and several parents are suing the New York City’s Department of Education claiming it has failed to provide Covid-19 testing  to parochial students as required by state law.

And the testing the DOE has provided thus far has been “inferior,” the lawsuit states. 

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the state Supreme Court on Staten Island, a New York City borough that has been contending with some of worst Covid-19 outbreaks in recent months.

Pac-12 allows schools to go out of league to fill Covid-canceled football games

Pacific-12 Conference schools will now be allowed to fill open football dates, if their opponent has to back out due to coronavirus protocols, the league announced on Thursday.

Five games of the Pac-12's young, truncated season have already been called off over Covid-19 issues, and the league had earlier decreed that no non-conferences contests were going to be played in 2020.

Image: NCAA Football: California at UCLA
UCLA Bruins running back Demetric Felton (10) runs for a first down against California Golden Bears safety Daniel Scott (32) in the first half of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov 15, 2020.Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

But the Pac-12 changed course, now saying that a league school that suddenly has an open date - and is in compliance with Covid-19 protocols - may schedule a home non-conference game to fill an opening.  

It's not clear how likely any Pac-12 team will be able to take advantage of this scheduling allowance and find a non-league partner that's free on that weekend and willing to travel on short notice.

N.Y.C. mayor's reason for closing public schools was 'arbitrary,' adviser says

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio insists he relied on science when he closed public schools after the Covid-19 test positivity rate hit 3 percent, but one of his advisers told NBC News on Thursday that this was an “arbitrary” figure.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University and one of the mayor’s informal emergency response advisers, said he was indirectly involved in the talks over the summer between the city and the powerful teachers union on reopening the schools when that number was agreed upon.

“They were very concerned about reopening the schools and endangering teachers and school staffers and I don’t blame them,” according to Redlener, who said he had access to the discussions, meetings and senior members of the de Blasio administration while negotiations were taking place.

Click here to read the full story.

Ohio reaches “critical hospitalization levels,” governor says

Ohio has reached “critical hospitalization levels,” the governor’s office said in a Thursday statement. 

There are currently 3,829 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Ohio, 943 of whom are in the ICU, Gov. Mike DeWine’s said. 

Positive cases have increased nearly 300 percent over the past month. Ohio has already recorded 326,615 cases, and seen more than 5,890 deaths.

“Almost all counties are seeing more cases and more healthcare use that could threaten the medical system if they continue," DeWine said.

First federal execution of a woman in decades halted after lawyers diagnosed with Covid

A federal court delayed the execution of Lisa Montgomery, the first woman to face the federal death penalty in decades, on Thursday because her attorneys caught Covid-19 and couldn't prepare her clemency application.

The court order, signed by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, blocks the federal government from executing Montgomery before the end of the year. That will give her lawyers — Amy Harwell and Kelley Henry — time to prepare a petition to president for a commuted sentence.

Click here to read the full story.

Biden urged to pick person of color for top health job amid pandemic's toll on minority groups

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Geoff Bennett

Amanda Golden

Shannon Pettypiece, Geoff Bennett and Amanda Golden

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is being pushed to name a person of color as his Health and Human Services secretary, a move supporters say is designed to acknowledge the need to address the disproportionate burden the pandemic has placed on minority communities.

Among the nominees allies have been advocating for are Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Latina governor of New Mexico, a former member of Congress also served as the state’s secretary of health; California Rep. Raul Ruiz, a Latino physician and former emergency room doctor; and Rep. Karen Bass, a Black California congresswoman and former physician assistant, according to four people familiar with the discussions who spoke on background to detail private deliberations.

Another top contender is rumored to be Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general whose family immigrated from India and has been a top Biden adviser, said a person advising the transition.

Click here to read the full story.

More than 119,000 Americans have died since last White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing 4 months ago

The White House will be holding a Coronavirus Task Force briefing Thursday -- it's first in four months. In that time, more than 119,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus.

A White House official confirmed to NBC News that the last one took place July 8 at the Department of Education. There have been other briefings and news conferences since then that have included members of the task force.

Atlas on the outs with coronavirus task force but still pushing Trump's pandemic claims

Carol E. LeeCarol E. Lee is the Washington managing editor.

President Donald Trump’s top medical adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Scott Atlas, has not attended White House task force meetings in person since late September, according to two administration officials, as he continues to spread misinformation about the worsening health crisis.

The growing split came after the group’s leading medical experts — Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci — indicated that they did not appreciate Atlas’ controversial input or contributions in the Situation Room gatherings.

“That was done in deference to Fauci and Birx because they basically said they will not work with him,” a senior administration official said about the adviser's absence at the meetings.

Click here to read the full story.

'It's not enough': Health experts say Iowa governor's new Covid order is 'weak'

Over the past few weeks, Dana Jones has grown increasingly alarmed at how Iowans are handling Covid-19, with hospitals running out of intensive care unit beds and the state surpassing a 45 percent positivity rate.

So, Jones, a nurse in Iowa City, initially felt relieved to hear Monday that Gov. Kim Reynolds would sign a proclamation that included a statewide mask mandate — but then she read it.

The proclamation only requires face coverings in public when someone is within 6 feet of other people for 15 minutes or more, and there are a number of exceptions. Bars and restaurants can stay open, but have to close by 10 p.m., and masks are not required for people exercising in gyms.

“It’s not enough,” said Jones, 39. 

Click here to read the full story.

Rhode Island gov. orders 2-week 'pause'

Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo announced on Thursday a two-week "pause" in the state to combat rising coronavirus rates.

The pause will shutter some businesses and leave others open, and will run from November 30 to December 13, Raimondo said, according to NBC affiliate WJAR.

In-person colleges, universities, bars, recreational areas and indoor sporting and gymnasium venues are to be closed while crowding restrictions will reduce capacity at high schools, indoor dining, retail and places of worship.

Notably, K-8 in-person education and childcare remain fully open during the Ocean State's two-week pause. 

Suit alleges Tyson Food plant manager bet on how many workers would get coronavirus

A federal wrongful death lawsuit alleges that a manager at a Tyson Foods plant in Iowa organized a group bet on how many meatpacking employees would contract Covid-19 just as the coronavirus began to spread widely among plant workers in late March and early April.

The suit, filed on behalf of the estate of deceased Tyson Foods, Inc. employee Isidro Fernandez, alleges that Covid-19 was spreading widely at the Waterloo, Iowa pork processing plant in early April when Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson visited with county health officials.

Working conditions at the plant were so bad that they "shook" Thompson "to the core," according to the suit, which said that, at that time, Waterloo plant workers were crowded together and few wore face coverings.

Click here to read the full story.

Annual Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney to go virtual

The annual Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania will be closed to in-person attendance in 2021, the group announced Thursday. Punxsutawney's famed groundhog Phil will instead make his prognostication via a video feed, according to a special committee of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

"The health and safety of our faithful followers and everyone associated with Phil's prognostication has been our number one priority," a Punxsutawney Groundhog Club press release said. The release added that "the potential Covid risks to overcome are too great" to allow for in-person attendance.

Intubated COVID-19 patient plays violin to thank healthcare workers

A retired orchestra teacher who was hospitalized for COVID-19 played his violin as a tribute to nurses and doctors who had been caring for him. 

Grover Wilhelmsen, who was hospitalized at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah for over a month, couldn’t speak while intubated and instead communicated with the healthcare staff through writing. After writing to Ciara Sase, a nurse and one of his caregivers, that he wanted to play his violin to thank the staff, Sase coordinated with Wilhelmsen’s wife of 47 years to bring the instrument into the hospital.

“It brought tears to my eyes. For all the staff to see a patient doing this while intubated was unbelievable,” Sase said according to a press release from Intermountain Healthcare. “Even though he was so sick, he was still able to push through. You could see how much it meant to him. Playing kind of helped to soothe his nerves and brought him back to the moment.”

Wilhelmsen was recently discharged from the ICU to a long-term care facility where he’s expected to make a full recovery, the hospital said. 

Click here to read the full story.

CDC warns America: Do not travel for Thanksgiving

Americans should avoid travel for Thanksgiving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursday.

It was a last-minute attempt by the nation's leading public health agency to curb what's sure to be yet another dangerous spike in Covid-19 cases if families gather next week.

"In the last week, we've seen over a million new cases," Erin Sauber-Schatz, head of the CDC's Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force, said Thursday on a call with reporters. "Thanksgiving is a week away."

Click here to read the full story.

Dem. senator says Trump vaccine distributions team hasn't briefed Biden

Nearly one out of four sailors from the Navy destroyer USS Michael Murphy test positive for Covid

A Covid-19 outbreak among sailors assigned to the USS Michael Murphy, a guided missile destroyer in the Navy's Pacific Fleet, has sidelined most of the crew and delayed its training schedule, according to two U.S. military officials and one defense official.

Nearly a quarter of the roughly 300 sailors assigned to the ship have tested positive for Covid-19, the officials said. And while many Navy ships, especially those in port, have a handful of cases among assigned sailors, the officials acknowledge that the concentration of positives from the USS Michael Murphy is higher than has been seen with other ships.

Click here to read the full story.

Sioux Falls, SD mayor says new mask mandate is part of all hands on deck effort to stop spread

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Mayor Paul TenHaken said the decision to finally enact a mask mandate despite initial reluctance is part of his effort to do “whatever we can” to stop the state’s deadly surge.

As of Wednesday, the state with a population of about 885,000, recorded over 68,671 cases and 671 deaths related to coronavirus. It also saw a 28 percent increase in Covid-19 cases in the last few weeks. It does not have a statewide mask mandate.

“We’re getting hit hard right now, and what we’re trying to do right now is ensure that healthcare capacity stays manageable,” TenHaken said.

Still, he expressed uncertainty over whether the mandate that passed Tuesday will be effective.

“Masks do slow the spread of the virus. We know that. What we haven’t  seen though is data that mask mandates really do that.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio says reopening NYC schools require stricter measures, Cuomo to close indoor dining and gyms

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that schools would remain closed indefinitely after he announced yesterday that schools would move all-remote in the country’s largest school system when the city surpassed the 3 percent standard for school shutdowns.

“This is a tough day. It was a tough decision yesterday. It’s not something anyone can possibly be happy about. I understand the frustration of parents,” de Blasio said. “We need to come up with even more stringent rules to make schools work and testing is going to be absolutely crucial.”

The mayor said that it was “just a matter of time” before Gov. Andrew Cuomo declares NYC an orange zone, which bans indoor dining and closes gyms and salons.

On Nov. 17, the city logged 1,255 new Covid-19 cases — its highest reported number this past week, according to city health department data. City residents have tested positive at a rate of 3 percent over the past seven days, according to the data.

Covid testing strained again as U.S. heads into holidays

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — With coronavirus cases surging and families hoping to gather safely for Thanksgiving, long lines to get tested have reappeared across the U.S. — a reminder that the nation’s strained testing system remains unable to keep pace with the virus.

The delays are happening as the country braces for winter weather, flu season and holiday travel, all of which are expected to amplify a U.S. outbreak that has already swelled past 11.5 million cases and 250,000 deaths.

Click here to read the full story.

Diversions and transfer delays plague hospitals overwhelmed by Covid-19 cases

With Covid-19 cases on the rise in all 50 states, the burden on hospitals has led to an increase in diversions. In addition, patient transfers are being significantly delayed due to capacity and staffing shortages, hospital administrators in some of the hardest hit states said.

The process known as diversion occurs when a hospital is over-capacity and needs to put a hold on accepting any knew ambulance traffic. Earlier this week at Elkhart General Hospital in Indiana, the hospital's 144 beds were over-capacity with 206 patients, stretching staff thin. Patients had to be temporarily housed in older areas of the hospital that had been closed. The hospital was eventually forced to issue a 7-hour diversion in order to get things under control.

“This is exactly why we were adamant about masks and flattening the curve. This is the situation that we wanted to avoid,” Dr. Michelle Bache said.

Click here to read the full story. 

These states set Covid-19 case and death records Wednesday

Across the country, Covid-19 cases are surging, and states are setting records for reported Covid-19 deaths and case counts.

Wisconsin set a new record for daily Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, counting 8,510, according to NBC News' tally. It wasn't alone: New Mexico logged 2,892 cases, and today New Jersey notched 4,491 cases.

These states set records for the number of people reported dead due to Covid-19 yesterday:

  • In Iowa, 39 reported dead.
  • 67 dead in Minnesota.
  • In Oklahoma, 26 deaths.
  • 20 dead in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. counted 167,637 cases and 1,798 deaths Nov. 18.

Latest initial weekly jobless claims tick up to 742,000

The latest weekly jobless claims rose for the first time since early October, reaching 742,000 — a much higher total than economists' forecasts of 710,000.

The data, released Thursday by the Department of Labor, is another strong indication that the labor market faces an unsteady path to recovery, as coronavirus infection rates hit record daily highs and a new wave of lockdowns and school closures sweeps the country.

"Regular initial claims alone are 3.6 times higher than their usual pre-Covid-19 levels," said AnnElizabeth Konkel, economist at Indeed Hiring Lab. "Eight months into this crisis, there continues to be tremendous economic uncertainty that’s regularly forcing hundreds of thousands into unemployment."

Click here to read the full story.

Photo: Long lines for testing at Dodger Stadium

Image:
Motorists line up for coronavirus testing in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday in Los Angeles.Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP

Oxford researchers say vaccine data expected by Christmas

The Associated Press

LONDON — University of Oxford scientists expect to report results from the late-stage trials of their COVID-19 vaccine by Christmas, a key researcher said Thursday as he discussed the team’s latest findings.

Dr. Andrew Pollard, an expert in pediatric infection and immunity at Oxford, said research was slowed by low infection rates over the summer, but the Phase III trials are now accumulating the data needed to report results as a renewed surge of the pandemic hits countries around the world. Oxford is developing its vaccine in conjunction with the drugmaker AstraZeneca.

“I think we’re getting close, and it’s definitely going to be before Christmas based on the progress,” Pollard said in an interview with the BBC.

Germany reports slowdown in Covid-19 spread

The Associated Press

BERLIN — Germany’s disease control agency says the coronavirus situation in the country remains serious but there are signs that lockdown measures are slowing the spread of the virus.

The Robert Koch Institute reported 22,609 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the past day, and 251 additional deaths.

Ute Rexroth, a senior official involved in the institute’s pandemic response, said the so-called reproduction number reflecting how many people are infected by every positive case has declined.

Germany introduced tighter restrictions at the beginning of November, shutting restaurants, bars and gyms but leaving open stores and schools.

Africa marks its 2 millionth Covid case

The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya — The African continent has surpassed 2 million confirmed cases as the top public health official warned Thursday that “we are inevitably edging toward a second wave” of infections.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the 54-nation continent had crossed the milestone. Africa has seen more than 48,000 deaths from COVID-19. Its infections and deaths make up less than 4% of the global total.

The African continent of 1.3 billion people is being warned against “prevention fatigue” as countries loosen pandemic restrictions to ease their economies’ suffering and more people travel.

Georgia Democrats grapple over reaching voters in-person amid worsening pandemic

MARIETTA, Ga. — Georgia voters don't even have to get out of their car these days to meet a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

On Wednesday morning in Cobb County, one the largest Atlanta suburbs, dozens of voters slowly inched down the street leading up to the horseshoe driveway in front of Turner Chapel AME Church. Music blared from speakers as Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff chatted with voters while staffers loaded yard signs into cars. Everyone wore masks and kept at a distance.

But some Georgia Democrats are warning that while events like Ossoff's drive-through yard sign pick-up are a creative way to campaign during the coronavirus pandemic, the party will need to rethink its ground game strategy, particularly door-to-door canvassing, if they hope to win in January.

Click here to read the full story.

Covid-19 vaccines could be available by the end of December. Here's what needs to happen first.

Following the release of more data from its Covid-19 vaccine Phase 3 clinical trial, the drugmaker Pfizer said Wednesday that it expects to submit an application for what's called emergency use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration "within days."

Another drugmaker, Moderna, has also said it aims to submit an application in the coming weeks. Both companies have announced preliminary results from their vaccine trials showing extremely high levels of efficacy.

Submitting emergency use authorization, or EUA, applications moves a potential coronavirus vaccine one step closer to patients, and experts say it's possible for Americans to start receiving shots by the end of December.

Click here to read the full story.