COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus pandemic

[JohnLanders]

https://www.cleveland19.com/2020/11/...-dying-mother/

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A United States representative from Nevada said she has tested positive for the coronavirus following a recent trip to Ohio.

U.S. Rep. Susie Lee shared news about the infection on Wednesday, announcing that the positive test result came after traveling to Ohio to visit her dying mother.

According to U.S. Rep. Lee, she traveled to Ohio on Monday after her mother started to receive in-home hospice care. She said she maintained social distance, wore a mask, and took a COVID-19 test before traveling.

The test on Sunday was negative, but U.S. Rep. Lee said a positive result confirmed the coronavirus when testing again on Wednesday.

Tragically, U.S. Rep. Lee said her mother died on Tuesday night following months of deteriorating health.

The congresswoman said she is currently feeling no symptoms and plans to participate in funeral services for her mother and for her legislative work remotely while isolating.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.khon2.com/news/national/...inmate-deaths/

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — At the Bibb Correctional Facility in Alabama, the old prison chapel has been turned into a quarantine zone. The sound of coughing is constant. And some people appear afraid to enter the room.

An inmate described life in the quarantine to The Associated Press, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation. The prison system has enforced the wearing of masks among inmates, but he said crowded dormitories like his offer nowhere to hide from the virus.

He said he became so weak he could not stand.

“He said they are just laying around like flies,” said Bonita Jackson, whose brother is a Bibb inmate who was hospitalized. “You can’t hardly hear him. He is gasping for breath.”

As coronavirus cases skyrocket nationwide, they are also rising again in prisons, which are plagued by close contact and lack of good hygiene. In Alabama prisons alone, 34 people — 32 inmates and two staff members — have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. That ranks ninth in the country for the number of COVID-19 deaths per 10,000 inmates, according to figurescompiled by The Associated Press and the Marshall Project.

Criminal justice reform advocates have called for the release of vulnerable and elderly inmates and an increase in paroles to alleviate extreme overcrowding, as well as the mass testing of inmates.

“These numbers are so disturbing, but not at all surprising given the culture and conditions in Alabama prisons. The Department of Corrections has failed to provide for the basic safety of people in its custody for years and COVID has escalated those failures,” said Carla Crowder, executive director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

“What people should understand is that it did not have to be this bad,” she said.

TheAlabama Department of Corrections said in a statement that is has taken multiple steps to combat the virus behind bars.

“As we continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 in our facilities, the primary goal and concern of the ADOC is protecting the safety, security, and well-being of our inmates and staff,” the prison system said in a statement emailed from spokeswoman Samantha Rose.

The agency said each inmate was given four masks, more than 200 floor-mounted hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed, and room foggers, backpack sprayers and other equipment are used to sanitize areas.

Asked about the conditions described by inmates and their families, the prison system said the old chapel at Bibb is serving as a quarantine for symptomatic inmates awaiting COVID-19 test results, but the inmates are being closely monitored.

“Using these non-traditional housing areas allows the ADOC to use all available space to quarantine positive cases, while protecting other inmates from exposure,” the system said.

Since the pandemic began, nearly 800 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, according to prison systemnumbers. The pandemic has also taken a toll on those that work in prisons. More than 600 Alabama prison employees have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Most inmates and staff have recovered.

Most deaths, like those outside prison walls, have occurred in inmates with preexisting health conditions, the prison system said.

State Sen. Cam Ward, who was recently appointed by the governor as the new director of the Parole Bureau, said prison conditions where inmates are often “warehoused” in large rooms is a factor.

“When you have 400-something people in one big room, it is going to spread disease,” Ward said.

More than 1,000 people age 65 and older are behind bars in state prisons. Ward said older populations in prison include those sentenced for single violent crimes and those sentenced under the state’s habitual offender act before it was changed.

“Because of that stringent three strikes, you’re out, you have a lot of people in there life without parole, and that population in there is getting older,” Ward said.

Kenneth Glasgow, founder of the Ordinary People Society dedicated to ending mass incarceration, said he is fielding calls from inmate families daily. He agreed with Crowder that the state should have pursued the release of some offenders and increased testing early in the pandemic.

“We’ve got family members calling out the yin-yang. They are scared. They say their family member got a two- or three-year sentence for drugs, not a sickness sentence or a death sentence from COVID,” Glasgow said.

January Corbitt said she has underlying health conditions and feared catching the coronavirus before her release from Tutwiler Prison for Women this fall. One inmate and two employees at the Wetumpka prison have died from COVID-19.

“It’s scary. Right now, it’s scary,” Corbitt said.

[raisedbywolves]

The problem with that is this. It's quite possible the vaccine will only give immunity for a short time. More like a flu shot than say a measles or mumps shot. If those antivax idiots refuse to get shots and keep wandering around, asymptomatically spreading the Trump virus we'll either all have to get mutiple shots or will end up getting sick because MAGA Mike doesn't give a good god damn about anyone else.

From what I have read, there may not be herd immunity with this one. We may have to get multiple shots, but from my reading it seems that even people that have the vaccine can transport the virus to others. So if you don't get your vaccine, herd immunity may not protect you with this disease. You either get it or you deal with the consequences.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...-idUSL8N2IC2QU

LONDON (Reuters) - Suspected North Korean hackers have tried to break into the systems of British drugmaker AstraZeneca in recent weeks, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as the company races to deploy its vaccine for the COVID-19 virus.

The hackers posed as recruiters on networking site LinkedIn and WhatsApp to approach AstraZeneca staff with fake job offers, the sources said. They then sent documents purporting to be job descriptions that were laced with malicious code designed to gain access to a victim’s computer.

The hacking attempts targeted a “broad set of people” including staff working on COVID-19 research, said one of the sources, but are not thought to have been successful.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not respond to a request for comment. Pyongyang has previously denied carrying out cyberattacks. It has no direct line of contact for foreign media.

AstraZeneca, which has emerged as one of the top three COVID-19 vaccine developers, declined to comment.

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The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public information, said the tools and techniques used in the attacks showed they were part of an ongoing hacking campaign that U.S. officials and cybersecurity researchers have attributed to North Korea.

The campaign has previously focused on defence companies and media organisations but pivoted to COVID-related targets in recent weeks, according to three people who have investigated the attacks.

Cyberattacks against health bodies, vaccine scientists and drugmakers have soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as state-backed and criminal hacking groups scramble to obtain the latest research and information about the outbreak.

Western officials say any stolen information could be sold for profit, used to extort the victims, or give foreign governments a valuable strategic advantage as they fight to contain a disease that has killed 1.4 million people worldwide.


Microsoft said this month it had seen two North Korean hacking groups target vaccine developers in multiple countries, including by “sending messages with fabricated job descriptions.” Microsoft did not name any of the targeted organisations.

South Korean lawmakers said on Friday that the country’s intelligence agency had foiled some of those attempts.

Reuters has previously reported that hackers from Iran, China and Russia have attempted to break into leading drugmakers and even the World Health Organisation this year. Tehran, Beijing and Moscow have all denied the allegations.

Some of the accounts used in the attacks on AstraZeneca were registered to Russian email addresses, one of the sources said, in a possible attempt to mislead investigators.

North Korea has been blamed by U.S. prosecutors for some of the world’s most audacious and damaging cyberattacks, including the hack and leak of emails from Sony Pictures in 2014, the 2016 theft of $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh, and unleashing the Wannacry ransomware virus in 2017.

Pyongyang has described the allegations as part of attempts by Washington to smear its image.

[Angiebla]

I just got a text from my dentist's office. They had a COVID outbreak (they said "exposure") and cancelled my monday app. Im relieved bc I really didnt want to go, but I guess Im just going to chill here with the hole in my tooth. The shitty thing is my mom was just there and got her teeth cleaned.

Sorry if Im posting personal stuff in this thread but most of my stories are COVID related.

[JohnLanders]

I just got a text from my dentist's office. They had a COVID outbreak (they said "exposure") and cancelled my monday app. Im relieved bc I really didnt want to go, but I guess Im just going to chill here with the hole in my tooth. The shitty thing is my mom was just there and got her teeth cleaned.

Sorry if Im posting personal stuff in this thread but most of my stories are COVID related.

Hope your mom is not COVID-19 Positive but expect the worst to happen sadly.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...o-15756086.php

UC San Francisco is one of seven California hospitals chosen by the state's Public Health Department to be among the first in the world for early distribution of Pfizer's COVID-190 vaccine. Health care workers and first responders will be first in line for inoculations amid a pandemic that has changed life as we know it since March. (The department didn't respond to a request for a list of the other six hospitals before this article was published.)

The wheels are already in motion at the public research university where a task force of clinical and pharmaceutical experts have been working with state public health officials to plan for distributing any and all safe and effective vaccines or therapeutics, according to a statement from UCSF.

The exact timeline for the first allocation is unknown but UCSF said it expects to begin administering the Pfizer vaccine as early as December.

Pfizer said its contracts in the early distribution are with governments and the first vaccines will be allocated through country and state's preferred channels and designated vaccination locations.

"Our goal is to start the first shipment as soon as possible, possibly within hours of receiving authorization or approval from any regulatory agency," said Francesca Marzullo, manager of Pfizer Global Supply Communications. "In some countries, health authorities may also issue vaccine recommendations immediately before distributions. We can only supply countries once regulatory authorization or approval has been granted and we will supply each country with vaccine doses through a robust process, consistent with supply agreements we’ve entered into with individual countries."

In recent weeks, both Pfizer and Moderna announced that the COVID-19 vaccines they had developed were found to be 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively, in phase 3 human trials. Pfizer last week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization to begin distributing its vaccine, and Moderna is expected to do the same any day. Federal officials say the first doses will ship within a day of authorization.


This week, AstraZeneca became the third vaccine maker to say early data indicates its shots are highly effective. AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed its vaccine is highly effective, and unlike the others, this one doesn’t have to be stored at freezer temperatures, making it potentially less expensive and easier to distribute.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a Monday press conference the state is preparing for delivery and distribution, but widespread availability to the public is still months away.

"Mass vaccination is unlikely to occur any time soon," Newsom said. "March, April, June, July, that's where we start to scale."

The state launched a community advisory committee of community groups, school leaders and nonprofit organizations to advise on distribution and allocation. A draft of the Phase 1a allocation, targeting 2.4 million health care workers across the state, is due Dec. 1.

Next, the committee will look at allocation of vaccines to individuals in congregate care, the medically vulnerable, medical first responders and those involved in safety infrastructure.

"The first round of vaccinations will be extraordinarily limited," Newsom said. "We begin with a framework of scarcity."

SFGATE contacted the California Department of Public Health for a list of all seven state hospitals that will be the first to issue the vaccine. The story will be updated when we receive this information.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-...ases-reported/

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada reported 2,542 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and a record-high 1,440 hospitalized patients, according to data released Thursday. This is the third-highest one-day total number of new cases reported in Nevada so far.

Nevada’s previous record was set yesterday, with 3,159 positive tests reported on Tuesday.

This is the sixth day in a row Nevada has reported more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases.

Nevada is reporting 22 deaths, with 16 coming from Clark County. More than half of the cases reported Tuesday — 1,658 — are from the state’s most populous county.

There is now a total of 144,781 confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide, with 111,485 in Clark County.

More than 1,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Nevada in 22 of the past 23 days.

Nevada also reported a record-high for hospitalizations on Wednesday, with 1,440 confirmed/suspected cases. The previous record — 1,414 — was reported Tuesday.

For the sixth week in a row, Clark County was flagged for elevated disease transmission. Clark County remains in the red on Nevada Health Response’s “county criteria tracker.” The county was flagged for elevated disease transmission after meeting the criteria of high case rates and high test positivity. Clark is one of 15 counties flagged in the tracker, updated daily on the DHHS Dashboard.

Clark County has a case rate of 1,306 per 100,000, and a test positivity of 15.2 percent.

Below is the full COVID-19 report for Wednesday, Nov. 25.

NEVADA HOSPITALIZATIONS
NOTE: The state is not updating hospitalization data, including the number of patients in ICU units or on ventilators, on Sundays or holidays.

Nevada is continuing to see a resurgence in COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the Nevada Hospital Association (NHA). The state has broken its record for hospitalization cases three times this week.

According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the number of hospitalized patients in Nevada was UP on Wednesday, according to data released Thursday.

The number of hospitalizations increased by 26 on Wednesday, bringing the current total to 1,440 — the highest number of hospitalized patients the state has recorded since the pandemic began.

In its Nov. 24 report, the NHA noted: “Nevada continues to experience exponential increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the metropolitan areas.” The majority of hospitalized patients are adults. Currently, seven of the patients are kids, with four in Northern Nevada and three in Southern Nevada.

“Approximately, 15-20% of all emergency room visits are now related to COVID-19 chief
complaints. Hospitals are now receiving new monoclonal antibody therapeutics that can be
administered via an intravenous (IV) route to some of these patients, keeping them from
requiring hospitalization,” NHA stated in its most recent report.

The organization says that if the current pattern of hospital demand continues, “the current wave will peak in the first half of December and will persist through the first half of February.”

More data from the Nevada Hospital Association (as of Nov. 24):

Statewide hospital occupancy rates: 82%
ICU units occupancy rate: 68%
Ventilators in use: 36%
The state set a record high for hospitalized patients on Nov. 25 with 1,440 cases.

Top 5 Number of Hospitalizations (statewide) Date reported
1 1,440 Nov. 25
2 1,414 Nov. 24
3 1,399 Nov. 23
4 1,288 Nov. 18
5 1,283 Nov. 19
Click HERE to see the DHHS dashboard, page 6
ICU/VENTILATOR DATA FOR WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25:

There were 306 patients in intensive care units (ICU) across the state Wednesday, down six from the previous day.

The DHHS report showed 162 patients on ventilators, down seven from the previous day.

NEVADA CASES, TESTING, DEATHS
There are now 144,781 confirmed cases and 2,093 COVID-19-related deaths in Nevada, with 2,542 new cases reported in the last day. This the sixth day in a row more than 2,000 cases were reported statewide.

More than 1,000 cases have been reported in Nevada in 22 of the past 23 days.

The DHHS is reporting 22 new COVID-19-related deaths statewide. The state is reporting a 14-day rolling average of 13 deaths daily.

It is important to note there is a delay in death reporting by both the state and county.

“Please keep in mind that the death rates we are seeing correspond to cases diagnosed up to 5 weeks ago,” Nevada Health Response stated in a news release.

A recent update to the state’s COVID-19 daily death graph (Mortality Trends, page 3 of DHHS dashboard) shows Aug. 6 had the highest count of fatalities with 27, followed by 26 deaths on Aug. 5.

The Nevada DHHS says it is important to note that there is often a delay in death reporting. Cumulative daily death counts are displayed by the date of death, rather than the date the death was reported to the state. The total count for statewide deaths on the first tab may not equal the sum of the cumulative daily death counts because of cases where exact date of death is unknown or pending report.

The state set a record for COVID-19 cases on Nov. 24 with 3,159.

RELATED CONTENT
NEW: Nevada sees 2nd consecutive day of record-breaking cases and hospitalizations, 3,159 positive tests reported
WATCH: Gov. Sisolak issues 3-week ‘statewide pause’, will take effect Nov. 24 at 12:01 a.m.
Here are the largest single-day increases for COVID-19 cases in Nevada:

Top 5 Number of COVID-19 cases (statewide) Date reported
1 3,159 Nov. 24
2 2,853 Nov. 23
3 2,542 Nov. 25
4 2,416 Nov. 18
5 2,339 Nov. 22
You can find this data on Nevada’s DHHS coronavirus dashboard, page 2
The state’s health experts say as more COVID-19 tests are conducted, the state will see a rise in cases.

As of Wednesday, a total of 1,592,915 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 18,658 in the past 24 hours. According to the state, a transition to a “testing encounters” methodology to account for people who receive both a rapid and PCR test on the same day will result in an overall decrease in the total reported number of tests by 3.8%.

With new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rising over the past several weeks, Nevada’s test positivity rate has risen above 10 percent. The test positivity is now being reported as a 14-day average, which puts it at 16.5% as of Wednesday. It reached 10% on Oct. 24 but before then, Nevada had not recorded a test positivity at or above 10% since September 1.

*NOTE: Daily lab data from DHHS and SNHD reports is updated every morning for the previous day.

[Angiebla]

A bar up the street from me made the national ABC news for people congregating there without social distancing or wearing masks. Im embarrassed.

[JohnLanders]

[JohnLanders]

[JohnLanders]

The Bleach cult strikes again

[JohnLanders]

https://fox40.com/news/national-and-...-shut-capital/

If this really happened then expect Kim Jong Un to be paranoid for the obvious.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea?s spy agency told lawmakers Friday.

Kim?s government also ordered diplomats overseas to refrain from any acts that could provoke the United States because it is worried about President-elect Joe Biden?s expected new approach toward North Korea, lawmakers told reporters after attending a private briefing by the National Intelligence Service.

One of the lawmakers, Ha Tae-keung, quoted the NIS as saying Kim is displaying ?excessive anger? and taking ?irrational measures? over the pandemic and its economic impact.

Ha said the NIS told lawmakers that North Korea executed a high-profile money changer in Pyongyang last month after holding the person responsible for a falling exchange rate. He quoted the NIS as saying that North Korea also executed a key official in August for violating government regulations restricting goods brought from abroad. The two people weren?t identified by name.

North Korea has also banned fishing and salt production at sea to prevent seawater from being infected with the virus, the NIS told lawmakers.

There are few ways to independently confirm the reported fishing ban and other information given by the NIS to the lawmakers. Ha didn?t say whether the ban applied to all North Korean waters or whether it was still in effect.

North Korea recently placed Pyongyang and northern Jagang province under lockdown over virus concerns. Earlier this month, it imposed lockdown measures in other areas where officials found unauthorized goods and foreign currencies that were brought in, Ha cited the NIS as saying.

North Korea also made an unsuccessful hacking attempt on at least one South Korean pharmaceutical company that was trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine, the NIS said.

The agency has a mixed record in confirming developments in North Korea, one of the world?s most secretive nations. The NIS said it couldn?t immediately confirm the lawmakers? accounts.

North Korea has maintained that it hasn?t found a single coronavirus case on its soil, a claim disputed by outside experts, although it says it is making all-out efforts to prevent the virus?s spread. A major outbreak could have dire consequences because the North?s health care system remains crippled and suffers from a chronic lack of medical supplies.

The pandemic forced North Korea to seal its border with China, its biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, in January. The closure, along with a series of natural disasters over the summer, dealt a heavy blow to the North?s economy, which has been under punishing U.S.-led sanctions.

North Korea?s trade with China in the first 10 months of this year totaled $530 million, about 25% of the corresponding figure last year. The price of sugar and seasoning has shot up four times, Ha quoted the NIS as saying.

North Korea monitoring groups in Seoul said the North Korean won-to-dollar exchange rate has recently fallen significantly because people found few places to use foreign currency after smuggling was largely cut off following the closure of the China border.

According to the NIS briefing, North Korea ordered overseas diplomatic missions not to provoke the United States, warning their ambassadors of consequences if their comments or acts related to the U.S. cause any trouble in ties with Washington.

North Korea?s government has remained silent over Biden?s election victory over President Donald Trump, with whom Kim held three summits in 2018-19 over the North?s nuclear arsenal. While the diplomacy eventually stalled, the meetings helped Kim and Trump build up personal ties and stop the crude insults and threats of destruction they had previously exchanged.

Lawmaker Kim Byung-kee cited the NIS as saying that North Korea is displaying anxiety as its friendly ties with Trump become useless and it has to start from scratch in dealing with the incoming Biden administration.

Experts have been debating whether North Korea will resume major missile tests soon to try to get Biden?s attention. During past government changes in the U.S., North Korea often conducted big weapons launches in an attempt to increase its leverage in negotiations with a new U.S. administration.

The NIS expects North Korea will hold a military parade ahead of a ruling party congress in January in a show of force timed with Biden?s inauguration. North Korea is also likely to use the Workers? Party congress to lay out its basic policies toward the U.S., Kim Byung-kee cited the NIS as saying.

Kim Jong Un has said the congress, the first of its kind in four years, will set new state objectives for the next five years. In a highly unusual admission of its policy failure in August, the Workers? Party said North Korea?s economy had not improved due to severe internal and external barriers and that its previous developmental goals had been seriously delayed.

[JohnLanders]

https://fox40.com/news/political-con...fer-virus-aid/

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) ? Faulting inaction in Washington, governors and state lawmakers are racing to get pandemic relief to small-business owners, the unemployed, renters and others whose livelihoods have been upended by the widening coronavirus outbreak.

In some cases, elected officials are spending the last of a federal relief package passed in the spring as an end-of-year deadline approaches and the fall COVID-19 surge threatens their economies anew. Democrats have been the most vocal in criticizing President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Senate for failing to act, but many Republican lawmakers are also sounding the alarm.

Underscoring the need for urgency, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the United States reached 205,557 on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University ? the first time its daily figure topped the 200,000 mark. Its previous daily high was 196,000 on Nov. 20.

The total number of cases reported in the U.S., since the first one in January, has topped 13 million.

The Democratic governors of Colorado and New Mexico convened special legislative sessions in the closing days of November to address the virus-related emergency. Earlier this week, the New Mexico Legislature passed a bipartisan relief bill that will deliver a one-time $1,200 check to all unemployed workers and give up to $50,000 to certain businesses.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the state took action to help residents ?who have real issues about keeping food on their table, a roof over their head.?

?While the United States of America is on fire, the Trump administration has left states to fight this virus on their own,? she said, noting state efforts alone simply are not enough. ?It is clear no help is coming ? not from this president, not from this administration. As we have done every day this year, New Mexico will step up.?

In Colorado, a special session scheduled for Monday will consider roughly $300 million in relief to businesses, restaurants and bars, child-care providers, landlords, tenants, public schools and others.

?Even as cases have exploded across the country, Congress and the president have not yet passed much-needed relief for people,? Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in announcing the session. ?Here in Colorado, we want to do the best with what we have to take care of our own.?

In New Jersey and Washington state, Republicans who are a minority in both legislatures were the ones pushing for special sessions. They want to direct more money to struggling small-business owners.

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin, who control both houses of the Legislature, are considering whether to return in December to address effects of the latest coronavirus wave after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers put forward a $500 million COVID-19 relief bill earlier this week. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, plans to convene lawmakers in December to contend with the virus, partially at Republicans? urging.

?Senate Republicans are committed to recovering our economy that has been harmed by broad and prolonged shutdowns,? Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said in a statement. ?We will work with anyone to find solutions.?

State government leaders want Trump and Congress to extend the Dec. 30 deadline for spending virus relief money already allocated under the CARES Act, which was approved in March, and to provide more federal funding to deal with the consequences of the latest surge.

?It?s just heartbreaking what they?re allowing to happen with no federal government intervention,? said Washington state House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, a Democrat.

In making his decision to call the Minnesota Legislature into special session, Walz cited ?a sense of urgency? around doing something on the state level due to the lack of a federal response.

The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits reported that more than half of the state?s charitable organizations received forgivable loans through the CARES Act?s Paycheck Protection Program this year, while another $12 million from the CARES Act is going to organizations that provide food to the needy. But all that will be spent ? or lost ? by the end of December without congressional action.

?I would reiterate to our federal partners ? to the outgoing administration and to the incoming Biden administration ? please work together, please find a compromise in there, please. If you have to, move a package now with the idea that you will come back and move one later,? Walz said. ?COVID is not going to end at the end of the month. We are in an unrelenting spike.?

In Ohio, where Republicans control every branch of government, Gov. Mike DeWine and legislative leaders pushed a $420 million pandemic spending package through a special bipartisan panel late last month. Funded through the CARES Act, it offered grants to small businesses, bars and restaurants, low-income renters, arts groups, and colleges and universities.

Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican, gives credit to the federal government for the billions in aid previously sent out, but he said small businesses and people who have lost work need more federal assistance.

?The election?s over,? Benninghoff said. ?This is not a time for finger-pointing.?

In neighboring New Jersey, the partisan divide over $4 billion in COVID-19 borrowing backed by the Democratic governor and Legislature prompted a court challenge by minority Republicans. The state?s high court sided with Gov. Phil Murphy?s administration, citing the unprecedented nature of the outbreak.

Even so, Murphy has regularly pleaded with Congress for more aid.

?It?s shameful that they have not acted in Congress, especially (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell and the Republican Senate, to throw a lifeline to small businesses,? he said.

Republicans have proposed a $300 million aid package to small businesses and nonprofits, but the legislation is stalled. GOP lawmakers told the governor if he does not call a special session to address the need, many businesses and charities ?might not survive the winter.?

Lawmakers in one state, Illinois, threw up their hands and went home despite an unaddressed $3.9 billion budget deficit. They cited the health threat posed by the virus and hope for help from the nation?s capital.

?If the federal government doesn?t stand up and step in, we?re in a very bad situation ? for our schools, colleges and universities, health care programs, child care, senior services,? House Majority Leader Greg Harris, a Democrat, said. ?This isn?t like all the blue states are hurting and all the red states are humming along. Everybody?s in bad shape.?

[raisedbywolves]

I just got a text from my dentist's office. They had a COVID outbreak (they said "exposure") and cancelled my monday app. Im relieved bc I really didnt want to go, but I guess Im just going to chill here with the hole in my tooth. The shitty thing is my mom was just there and got her teeth cleaned.

Sorry if Im posting personal stuff in this thread but most of my stories are COVID related.

You should post stuff like this, it's COVID related and more interesting that dry news articles that no one is really reading anymore anyway.

I hope your mom doesn't get it. Did anyone else get sick in your family after the recent cases in your extended family?

[JohnLanders]

[JohnLanders]

[JohnLanders]

https://ktla.com/news/california/bay...el-quarantine/

More counties in California announced new COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday to prevent rising caseloads from spiraling into a hospital crisis.

San Francisco is joining a statewide curfew and Silicon Valley is banning all high school, collegiate and professional sports and imposing a quarantine for those traveling into the region from more than 150 miles away. Santa Clara County has the highest case rate in the Bay Area, leading to the stricter rules, said Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody.

?This pandemic is like a high-speed train, and our projections tell us that we are on target to derail by around the third week of December if we don?t apply the brakes right now with all our collective might,? she said.

The changes in Santa Clara County are less strict than a statewide lockdown issued in March by Gov. Gavin Newsom but still ratchet up measures that aim to slow the exploding number of people who have become infected with COVID-19 and those winding up in hospitals. It stops short of a full business shutdown that could cripple the holiday sale season by reducing the number of people allowed in stores to 10% capacity.

The order, which takes effect Monday and will last until at least Dec. 21, exempts church services and protests, which county health officials said are constitutionally protected.

Health officers in other Bay Area counties expressed support for Santa Clara county?s tighter rules because they anticipate other parts of the region may eventually reach the same critical caseload level. A month ago, there were 262 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Bay Area; as of yesterday, that number had nearly tripled to 759, they said in a statement.

The San Francisco 49ers and the San Jose Sharks hockey team may need to find a temporary new home after the county banned all contact sports from holding games and practices for the next three weeks. Stanford and San Jose State also have several sports in season.

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Meanwhile, an alarming surge of newly reported coronavirus cases pushed San Francisco and San Mateo counties to the most restrictive purple tier in the state?s pandemic blueprint for the economy, forcing most indoor activities to close by noon Sunday and placing the counties? residents under curfew starting Monday night.

The new restrictions came a day after Los Angeles County imposed a lockdown calling for 10 million residents to stay home ?as much as possible,? prohibiting them from gathering with people outside of their household for public or private occasions, except for faith-based services and protests.

Businesses already are operating under a recently-imposed nighttime curfew that covers much of the state, as are restaurants, which were recently barred from offering in-person dining.

Public health officials have been urging people for weeks to avoid visiting family during the holiday season as COVID-19 cases spiral out of control in counties that include most of California?s population.

Authorities began to see caseloads spiking this fall and blamed it, in part, on people ignoring mask and distance precautions when gathering, especially to celebrate holidays or special events such as the World Series victory by the Dodgers and NBA championship win by the Lakers.

The state?s top public health official has referred to ?COVID fatigue? by people who are becoming lax about safety precautions after having been hit with sometimes confusing state and local health orders as the pandemic waxed and waned.

Meanwhile, health officials are bracing for a wave of cases in the next two or three weeks that could follow gatherings at Thanksgiving. Officials have estimated that 1 in 145 Los Angeles County residents is infected with COVID-19. About 12% of those infected could wind up in hospitals, authorities say.

?The big unknown here is what actions were people taking over this long holiday weekend,? county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Saturday.

If people engaged in high-risk activities, she said, ?we?re in for a very rough time because we will have a surge on top of a surge.?

[JohnLanders]

https://fox40.com/news/national-and-...shots-in-days/

LONDON (AP) — Britain said Sunday it has secured 2 million more doses of a promising coronavirus vaccine as it gears up to launch within days the country’s most ambitious inoculation program in decades.

The U.K. has had Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with more than 58,000 confirmed virus-related deaths. It now hopes to hit a more positive milestone by becoming one of the first countries in the world to start vaccinating its population against COVID-19.

The U.K. government has agreed to buy more than 350 million doses of vaccines from seven different producers, should they prove effective, as it prepares to vaccinate as many of the country’s 67 million people as possible.

The Department of Health said Sunday it had increased its order for a vaccine developed by U.S. firm Moderna from 5 million to 7 million doses, enough for 3.5 million people.

The Moderna vaccine is expected to be referred soon to the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, to see if it is safe and effective. Two other vaccines — one developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, the other by Oxford University and AstraZeneca — are already being assessed by the regulator, the final stage before being rolled out.

Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

Hospitals in England have been told they could receive the first doses of the Pfizer shot as early as the week of Dec. 7 if it receives approval, the Guardian and Financial Times reported. The U.S. vaccination program also hopes to begin inoculating some Americans in December.

The government says frontline health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first to be vaccinated, followed by older people, starting with those over 80. The plan is to work down the age and risk groups until everyone 18 and over has been inoculated.

Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said he “wouldn’t be too surprised if an announcement would be made within the next two weeks, possibly even as early as next week.”

Non-medical staff including volunteer first-aiders are already being trained to give the shots, which will be administered at around 1,000 community vaccination centers and 40 to 50 large-scale facilities in stadiums and conference venues, according to a government planning document.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said officials hope to vaccinate “the vast majority of the people who need the most protection by Easter.”

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said the roll-out of a vaccine could be “just days away.” But he said there would not be a quick end to the onerous restrictions on business and everyday life that have been imposed to curb the spread of the virus.

“There are still long weeks and months ahead before we can be completely confident that we can vaccinate enough people in the country, and thereby remove enough targets for the virus, in order to beat the disease,” he wrote.

A four-week national lockdown in England is due to end Wednesday, and will be replaced by a three-tiered system of regional measures. The vast majority of the country is being put into the upper two tiers, meaning most people will be barred from meeting up with friends indoors, pubs and restaurants still face restrictions and everything from large weddings to choir practices are being banned.

Pfizer and BioNTech say their vaccine is 95% effective, according to preliminary data. It must be stored at ultra-cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit). The Moderna vaccine, which also needs to be stored at freezer temperatures, was also about 95% effective in clinical trials, the company said.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored at conventional refrigerator temperatures, making its distribution much simpler, and is also cheaper than its main rivals. But some scientists have questioned gaps in its reported results.

Oxford and AstraZeneca reported this week that their vaccine appeared to be 62% effective in people who received two doses, and 90% effective when volunteers were given a half dose followed by a full dose. They said the half dose was administered because of a manufacturing error, and they plan a new clinical trial to investigate the most effective dosing regimen.

Full data from the Oxford-AstraZeneca trial is expected to be published soon, and may answer some of the questions about the vaccine.

Openshaw said he’d be happy to get any vaccine that is approved.

“If my GP rings me and says ‘I’ve got an approved vaccine,’ I really don’t care which one it is,” he told the BBC.

[Angiebla]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nurse-str...135436368.html

[JohnLanders]

https://wjla.com/news/local/maryland...d-9-or-younger

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — For the first time since COVID-19 came to Maryland in March, a child under the age of 9 has died of the virus, the Maryland Department of Health reported Monday.

The death occurred Sunday, health department spokesman Charlie Gischlar tells ABC7.

"Data are preliminary and residential information of the decedent has not been recorded on the death certificate yet," he went on to say. The exact age and gender of the child will also not be released at this time to protect confidentiality.

COVID-19 surged in Maryland in November, with a record-breaking 53,089 new confirmed cases. There were also 485 new deaths, the highest number of deaths in the state since June.

A total of 4,486 Marylanders have died of the virus as of Monday, and nearly 200,000 Marylanders have been infected.

https://wjla.com/news/coronavirus/tr...es-white-house

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Scott Atlas, a science adviser to President Donald Trump who was skeptical of measures to control the coronavirus outbreak, is leaving his White House post.

A White House official confirmed that the Stanford University neuroradiologist, who had no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, resigned at the end of his temporary government assignment. Atlas confirmed the news in a Monday evening tweet.



Atlas joined the White House this summer, where he clashed with top government scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, as he resisted stronger efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 267,000 Americans.

Atlas has broken with government experts and the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community to criticize efforts to encourage face covering to slow the spread of the virus. Just weeks ago on Twitter he responded to Michigan's latest virus restrictions by encouraging people to “rise up” against the state's policies.

His views also prompted Stanford to issue a statement distancing itself from the faculty member, saying Atlas "has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university’s approach in response to the pandemic."

“We support using masks, social distancing, and conducting surveillance and diagnostic testing,” the university said Nov. 16. “We also believe in the importance of strictly following the guidance of local and state health authorities.”

[JohnLanders]

https://wreg.com/news/california-cou...officials-say/

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – California could see a tripling of hospitalizations by Christmas and is considering stay-home orders for areas with the highest case rates as it tries to head off concerns that severe coronavirus cases could overwhelm intensive care beds, officials said Monday.

“The red flags are flying in terms of the trajectory in our projections of growth,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “If these trends continue, we’re going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic, action.”

‘The picture is devastating’: L.A. County’s daily hospitalizations could reach 2,500
Hospitalizations have increased 89% over the past 14 days and nearly 7,800 coronavirus patients were hospitalized as of Monday. About 12% of Californians testing positive are likely to need hospital care within the next two to three weeks.


The biggest concern is intensive care cases, which have increased 67% in the past two weeks. If that continues, it would push ICU beds to 112% of capacity by mid-December.

That statistic is likely to drive state-mandated stay-at-home orders in 51 of California’s 58 counties that already are seeing the most restrictions on business activities, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of health and human services.

ICU hospitalization rates vary by county and region, he said, and is a greater concern than overall hospital capacity.

“Bottom line is we are looking at intensive care unit capacity as the primary trigger for deeper, more restrictive actions,” Ghaly said.

Traveling nurse diagnosed with both COVID-19 and cancer
“When that capacity goes away, or even when it gets stretched so far that staffing is stretched, that we have to set up space that isn’t typically used for intensive care units, we know that the quality of care … sometimes takes a dip and we see outcomes we don’t want to see,” he said.

By the second half of December California “could be pushing the limits in some areas,” Ghaly said, adding that “we want to act sooner than that so we can get transmission down and we can handle those potential high ICU surges.”

[JohnLanders]

[JohnLanders]

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotec...tted-for-today

As Moderna continues to drip-feed the latest data from its late-stage COVID-19 vaccine effort, it has updated the shot?s efficacy figure.

The company?s vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, now has data for 196 cases, which Moderna says ?confirms the high efficacy observed at the first interim analysis? that came out two weeks back.

Learn more

There is, however, a slight difference: In this latest update, vaccine efficacy hit 94.1% out of the so-called COVE trial. Data posted Nov. 16 showed this efficacy at a slightly higher 94.5%, although this was based on 90 cases of COVID-19.

Breaking the figures down, 185 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 11 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group.

Still, an extra 100-plus cases and the percentage has moved down only very slightly, and Moderna added efficacy against severe COVID-19 was 100%. This was a key secondary endpoint, which analyzed severe cases of COVID-19 and included 30 severe cases.

?All 30 cases occurred in the placebo group and none in the mRNA-1273 vaccinated group,? Moderna said in a release. There was one COVID-19-related death in the study, but this occurred in the placebo group. The full data are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The Big Biotech said it was plotting an emergency use authorization in the U.S. ?today? for its mRNA vaccine, with an FDA review being ?likely? on Dec. 17.

?This positive primary analysis confirms the ability of our vaccine to prevent COVID-19 disease with 94.1% efficacy and importantly, the ability to prevent severe COVID-19 disease,? said St?phane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.

?We believe that our vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of this pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death.

?I would again like to thank our partners at NIH, NIAID, BARDA and Operation Warp Speed who have helped us advance the clinical development of mRNA-1273. We will file today for an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA and continue forging ahead with the rolling reviews that have already been initiated with several regulatory agencies around the globe.?

Analyst Michael Yee at Jefferies said in a note to clients that: ?The data is [sic] strong and sets a high bar for others.?

The biotech?s shares jumped 11% premarket.

This comes on the same day that Novavax, a rival to Moderna that is creating its own version of a COVID-19 vaccine using different technology, has for the second time pushed back a U.S. trial. It had revised the date for November, but it has now been pushed back until at least next month. Its U.K. late-stage trial is still ongoing and will form the basis of its attempt to get an approval.

[JohnLanders]

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotec...liver-covid-19

Gene therapy pioneer Jim Wilson and the University of Pennsylvania are teaming up with Regeneron to help deliver its COVID-19 antibody cocktail using adeno-associated virus (AAV) tech in the hope of curbing infection via a nasal spray.

The antibody cocktail, made up of casirivimab and imdevimab, was given a speedy authorization by the FDA less than two weeks ago as a treatment for certain COVID-19 patients. But, keeping up with the fast pace of SARS-CoV-02 R&D, Regeneron is not resting on its laurels and now wants to find a quicker way of delivering its therapy while also working on it as a prophylactic.

These antibodies are currently injected into patients, but Regeneron and Penn will use Wilson’s gene therapy know-how to attempt a nasal spray formulation using AAV vectors. The belief is that this could prevent infection with the virus using a technology typically used in high-tech gene therapies.

The group plans to study the safety and effectiveness of using AAV vectors to introduce the sequence of the cocktail’s virus-neutralizing antibodies directly to nasal epithelial cells and see whether it can help protect against the disease.

The first step is to finish preclinical trials; if successful, an IND will be sent off to the FDA for human trials.

Wilson’s team said it was hopeful that introducing the therapy via single dose of AAV will be able to produce similar protection Regeneron has seen for its cocktail, but “for potentially a longer duration.”

“Regeneron scientists specifically selected casirivimab and imdevimab to block infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and we have been encouraged by the promising clinical data thus far,” said Christos Kyratsous, Ph.D., vice president of research, infectious diseases and viral vector technologies at Regeneron.

“In the quest to use cutting-edge science to help end this disruptive and often very devastating disease, we are excited to explore alternate delivery mechanisms such as AAV that may extend the potential benefits of this investigational therapy to even more people around the world.”