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on health

New U.S. Infections Lowest in a Week

The U.S. reported the smallest increase in new coronavirus infections in a week, while hospitals in some parts of the country are seeing rising numbers of Covid-19 patients.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 7.8 million, as the nation reported more than 41,000 new cases for Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The death toll surpassed 215,000.

U.S. hospitalizations, meanwhile, are at the highest level since Sept. 2, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project. As of Monday, there were 35,056 patients hospitalized across the country, more than 16% higher than the level a week earlier. While hospitalizations are rising, they are still lower than July’s daily highs of more than 59,000.

Latest on the Virus

  • U.S. cases rise by more than 41,000
  • Hospitalizations at highest level since Sept. 2.
  • India reports smallest rise in new cases in almost two months.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that high levels of hospitalizations in the state were straining the health-care system and urged residents via

Twitter

to “work together to reduce our cases.”

Hospitalizations are also rising in New Jersey, where the state’s seven-day average of Covid-19 cases topped 700 on Monday for the fifth straight day, a benchmark New Jersey last hit in early June. More than 600 people in the state remain hospitalized due to Covid-19, up from about 400 in September. More than 6,000 people were hospitalized when the state peaked in April.

In the U.S. territory of Guam, hospitalizations are at the highest level since the pandemic began, with 62 people in civilian hospitals and three at the island’s U.S. Naval hospital.

Daily reported Covid-19 deaths in the U.S.

Notes: For all 50 states and D.C., U.S. territories and cruises. Last updated

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

Daily reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S.

Note: For all 50 states and D.C., U.S. territories and cruises. Last updated

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

California:Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the state has increased its rate of daily tests to an average of 125,000. The state administered 169,000 tests on Saturday, Mr. Newsom said in a briefing on Monday. The state also said that 95% of its local health departments were contacting those who tested positive for the virus on the same day they received test results, a critical measure of effectiveness in contact tracing to slow the spread of the virus.

Vaccines:

Johnson & Johnson

said it has paused further dosing in all clinical trials of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine because a study volunteer had an unexplained illness. The pause affects all trials of J&J’s vaccine, including a large Phase 3 trial that began in September and aimed to enroll as many as 60,000 people in the U.S. and several other countries. An independent data-safety monitoring board is reviewing the study subject’s illness, the company said.

Monitoring the U.S. Outbreak

Confirmed cases by state, ranked by latest full-day count

Daily confirmed cases per

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on fitness

Braintree Announces Events For Senior Fitness Week

BRAINTREE, MA — The town Department of Elder Affairs has organized two events to help Braintree seniors stay fit and enjoy themselves.

This year, theDepartment of Elder Affairs will be hosting Senior Health and Fitness Week from Oct. 13 to Oct. 20. Events will be held Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., on Friday

All events during Senior Health and Fitness Week will take place outdoors at the Braintree Council on Aging at 71 Cleveland Ave.

“The Department of Elder Affairs, throughout this pandemic, has continued to step out of the box to create programs and offer services for the older adults of our community,” Elder Affairs director Sharmila Biswas said. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for our older adults to spend time outdoors with friends, while maintaining all the COVID-19 safety protocols.”

Events for Senior Health and Fitness Week include cardio strength and flexibility classes, classes on healthy food preparation, outdoor walks and live entertainment. For a full list of the week’s events, click here.

All events are free and open to Braintree seniors, but donations will be accepted.

“We are extremely excited to be able to host Senior Health and Fitness Week in place of our annual Pond Meadow Senior Walk this year,” Mayor Charles Kokoros said in a statement. “Sharmila and the Department of Elder Affairs staff continue to do a great job of planning these activities and programs for residents to enjoy.”

The department is also slated to host an outdoor bingo event at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20. Outdoor bingo will be held at the Braintree Council on Aging.

In compliance with social distancing and COVID-19 regulations, guests are encouraged to begin seating themselves outdoors at 9:30 a.m. prior to the event.

Senior Health and Fitness Week and outdoor bingo are open to all Braintree seniors. Pre-registration is required, and residents can do so by calling the Department of Elder Affairs at 781-848-1963.

This article originally appeared on the Braintree Patch

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on health

Turkey will declare asymptomatic COVID-19 cases as of next week: paper

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey will start declaring the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases from Oct. 15, its health minister said in remarks published on Sunday, following criticism that its disclosure of only symptomatic cases hid the extent of infections.

At the end of July, Turkey changed the wording of its daily coronavirus report to show the number of “patients” instead of “cases” . At a news conference on Sept 30, Koca said that the government was only sharing the number of COVID-19 positive cases with symptoms.

Medics and opposition parties criticised the practice, saying it was aimed at hiding the real scale of the pandemic and was meant to keep the economy moving.

“We will start (releasing all the numbers) on 15th,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca was quoted as saying in an interview with daily newspaper Hurriyet.

“We will share the cross sectional screening results even though they show no symptoms. We will report these to the World Health Organisation (WHO).”

Cross sectional screening tests are being conducted at airports, prisons and to people going abroad among others, Koca also said according to the interview.

Turkey was put on England’s quarantine on arrival list following its acknowledgement that it did not publish the full number of daily positive COVID-19 cases.

Turkey will continue to conduct field screening tests for coronavirus cases, Koca said according to interview.

Turkey has reported 1,500 symptomatic coronavirus patients a day in recent weeks on average, while total deaths due to the respiratory disease stand at 8,778, according to health ministry data.

(Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun, Editing by William Maclean)

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on health

Chris Christie Says He’s Been Released from the Hospital 1 Week After Being Admitted for COVID-19

Dennis Van Tine/Sipa USA/AP Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

Chris Christie has been released from the hospital, one week after contracting the coronavirus.

“I am happy to let you know that this morning I was released from Morristown Medical Center,” the former New Jersey governor wrote on Twitter Saturday morning. “I want to thank the extraordinary doctors & nurses who cared for me for the last week. Thanks to my family & friends for their prayers. I will have more to say about all of this next week.”

Christie, 57, first said he tested positive last Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump announced that he and wife, First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus.

Shortly after announcing his diagnosis, Christie revealed that he was at higher risk for coronavirus complications due to underlying health issues, including asthma, and shared that he had checked himself into the hospital as a precaution.

RELATED: Chris Christie Still Hospitalized with Coronavirus 6 Days After Saying He Was Infected: Reports

“In consultation with my doctors, I checked myself into Morristown Medical Center this afternoon,” the politician wrote in an Oct. 3 tweet. “While I am feeling good and only have mild symptoms, due to my history of asthma we decided this is an important precautionary measure.”

Christie added, “I am thankful for our hardworking medical professionals and look forward to coming home soon.”

RELATED: White House Grapples with COVID-19: Who Has and Has Not Recently Tested Positive

Christie, who served on Trump’s transition team and remains close with the campaign, helped the president prep for his first debate against Joe Biden in the days before Trump’s positive test late on Oct. 1.

Christie previously told ABC News that no one wore masks in the debate prep, and the president resisted using them despite health guidance that they are key preventative measures.

Others reportedly involved in that prep, including Trump advisers Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks, also tested positive. Many of those infected were also in attendance at a large Sept. 26 event in the Rose Garden for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, which has since been deemed a “super-spreader” event.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed

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on health

Alabama closes out week with uptick in coronavirus deaths: Week in review

Things have been relatively calm in Alabama’s fight with the coronavirus over the past few weeks, but an uptick in reported virus deaths over the last four days is a discouraging sign as the state gets ready for colder weather.

The Alabama Department of Public Health reported just over 6,750 new virus cases in Alabama this week. It also reported 103 total deaths – the first time in more than a month the state has reported at least 100 total virus deaths in a week.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

And 90 of those deaths were reported in the last four days alone, as the state has reported double digit death totals in each of the last four days.

The 7-day average for total coronavirus deaths rose to 14.1 on Friday, the highest it’s been since Sept. 17. Prior to Thursday, that number hadn’t risen past 10 in two weeks.

A large number of the confirmed deaths reported this week came near Alabama’s coast. Mobile and Baldwin counties saw a combined 24 virus deaths between Saturday, Oct 3. and Friday, Oct. 9.

The state has now suffered 2,653 virus deaths since March. Because of the way deaths are reported, there is a lag between when someone dies of the virus and when they are listed in the state’s data. It’s unclear when the deaths reported this week actually occurred. The state reports deaths by date of death on its coronavirus dashboard, but it sometimes takes weeks for deaths to show up in that chart, and hundreds of deaths currently included in ADPH’s cumulative total don’t have a date assigned yet.

ADPH reported 6,767 new total virus cases this week, including around 4,900 confirmed cases and 1,900 probable cases. That case total represents a slight increase over the previous week, but is still down from two weeks prior.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

The state’s caseload has been relatively flat since Labor Day. There was a slight uptick in cases in late September, which was at least partially caused by a backlog of cases from a private lab entering the system, according to ADPH.

But the 7-day average for new daily cases has increased by only around 100 cases since Labor Day itself. The average then was 855 cases per day. As of Friday, it stood at 966.

On Friday the state reported nearly 1,500 new cases, after showing significantly lower numbers for most of the week.

The state also reported nearly 12,000 new tests on Friday, which was also a significant increase, and could indicate another backlog of data entering the system.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

The state’s positivity rate was 13.3 percent on Friday, and has hovered between 12 and 14 percent over the last few weeks.

Hospitalizations have remained mostly flat in the state over the past several weeks – though hospitals in Tuscaloosa and Auburn reported increases this week. The 7-day average for current virus hospitalizations statewide hasn’t risen past 800 since Sept.

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on health

44 New Coronavirus Cases Announced In Buffalo Grove In Last Week

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — Like every other municipality in Illinois, the Village of Buffalo Grove has been dealing with its own unique data points regarding the coronavirus. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 759 people have contracted COVID-19 in Buffalo Grove since the outbreak began. That is an increase of 44 cases since Oct. 2. For further comparison, there was an increase of 24 cases between Sept. 25-Oct. 2.

The Lake County Health Department reports there have been 17,946 confirmed cases in Lake County. That’s an increase of 638 cases since Oct. 2. For further comparison, there was an increase of 668 cases between Sept. 25-Oct. 2. In addition, there have been 480 deaths, marking an increase of four 12 since Oct. 2. For further comparison, there was an increase of 12 deaths between Sept. 25-Oct. 2.

Here is a breakdown of Lake County cases by age. As of Friday afternoon, there has been no update to these numbers since prior to Sept. 25:

  • Less than 20 (2,550 cases for an increase of 143 since Sept. 11, compared to 229 between Sept. 4-11)

  • 20-29 (3,224 cases for an increase of 112, compared to 200)

  • 30-39 (2,252 cases for an increase of 52, compared to 94)

  • 40-49 (2,448 for an increase of 51, compared to 117)

  • 50-59 (2,266 for an increase of 60, compared to 95)

  • 60-69 (1,390 for an increase of 17, compared to 59)

  • 70-79 (723 for an increase of seven, compared to 19)

  • 80-89 (515 for an increase of six, compared to nine)

  • 90 and older (305 for an increase of two, compared to five)

The Lake County recovery rate from the coronavirus is currently 96.6 percent. Recovered cases are defined as persons with initial positive specimen collection date greater than 42 days who have not expired. The Recovery rate is calculated as the recovered cases divided by the sum of recovered cases and total deceased cases.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reports 19,912 people have been tested across Buffalo Grove (zip codes 60069, 60089) as of Friday. That’s an increase of 1,080 people tested since Oct. 2. For further comparison, there was an increase of 1,166 tests between Sept. 25-Oct. 2.

According to the Cook County Medical Examiner, 21 people have died due to COVID-19 in the Cook County portion of Buffalo Grove since April 6. The last reported death was on Sept. 29.

Here is a breakdown of COVID-19 related deaths by date in Buffalo Grove:

  • April 6 — 1

  • April 10 — 1

  • April 14 — 1

  • April 16 — 1

  • April 19 — 2

  • May 4 — 1

  • May 5 — 1

  • May 10 — 1

  • May 17 — 1

  • May 23 — 2

  • June 5 — 1

  • June 6 —1

  • June 11 — 1

  • June 12 — 1

  • June 13 — 1

  • June 28 — 1

  • July 1 — 1

  • Aug. 23 — 1

  • Sept. 29 — 1

According to the medical examiner, the age breakdown for the

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on health

Hospitals in north of England ‘to run out of Covid beds within a week’

Some hospitals in the north of England are set to run out of beds for Covid patients within a week, health chiefs are warning, amid growing signs that the disease’s fast-unfolding second wave will seriously disrupt normal NHS care for a second time.



a person in a blue room: Photograph: Neil Hall/AP

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Neil Hall/AP

NHS trusts in the north-east and north-west are getting so many new Covid cases every day that some are already planning to ditch routine surgery again to free up staff and beds, despite a health service-wide diktat that they should continue to provide normal care this time round.

“Mutual aid” plans are also being laid for hospitals to take Covid cases from outside their area to help relieve the pressure on those in which all beds equipped to treat such patients have filled up.

Matt Ashton, Liverpool’s director of public health, told the Guardian that the city’s two main acute hospital trusts are admitting so many new Covid patients every day that they may reach their maximum capacity by the end of next week.

“I don’t want to panic people but within seven to ten days our hospitals will be at the level they were at the peak of the pandemic.”

In a meeting chaired by England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, on Thursday, MPs from the north and the Midlands were warned that some hospitals there could see even more Covid patients in intensive care units than during the spring peak within 22 days if no further action was taken.



MPs from the north and the Midlands have been warned that some hospitals could see even more Covid patients in intensive care units than during the spring peak.

© Photograph: Neil Hall/AP
MPs from the north and the Midlands have been warned that some hospitals could see even more Covid patients in intensive care units than during the spring peak.

Ashton said: “If the north-west capacity is likely to be reached in 22 days, we will get there first – Liverpool will get there first.”

The number of Covid patients being treated by the city’s Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen trust and Aintree University Hospital NHS trust has soared from 100 to 200 in the last week. The two trusts have about 400 beds between them which are suitable for caring for such cases. The fact that hospitalisations are doubling every seven days means they could reach their limits of 400 very soon, especially as Liverpool now has one of the highest infection rates in England, added Ashton.

“It’s doubled in a week in effect from roughly 100 to roughly 200. That’s hugely worrying,” said Ashton, adding that on current trends another doubling would see all 400 beds full by late next week. “Beds will fill up quickly now. This is the point where the NHS will start to struggle in doing its normal routine business alongside its Covid business.”

MPs who were briefed by Whitty and health minster Edward Argar believe that the government is preparing to impose further new restrictions on northern England, aimed at curbing the spread of infections, despite many of the local lockdowns already in force having failed to achieve that.

Video:

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on health

Regeneron asks FDA for emergency authorization of its Covid-19 antibody therapy that was given to Trump last week

Regeneron says it has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for its experimental monoclonal antibody therapy, the same antibody cocktail given to President Donald Trump Friday after he was diagnosed with the virus.



a woman preparing food in a kitchen: New York state based biotech company, Regeneron is working on an antibody therapy to treat, and possibly prevent, Covid-19.

© Regeneron
New York state based biotech company, Regeneron is working on an antibody therapy to treat, and possibly prevent, Covid-19.

The biotechnology company confirmed it had submitted the application for the authorization in a statement on its website Wednesday night.

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“Under our agreement with the U.S. government for the initial doses of REGN-COV2, if an EUA is granted the government has committed to making these doses available to the American people at no cost and would be responsible for their distribution,” the statement said. “At this time, there are doses available for approximately 50,000 patients, and we expect to have doses available for 300,000 patients in total within the next few months.

Regeneron’s experimental antibody treatment is still in large-scale clinical trials, but has been available for compassionate use, something the FDA has to approve on an individual basis, like it did for the President.

The antibody therapy is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies that is designed specifically to block infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, according to the company’s statement.

A cocktail antibody therapy uses two or more lab-engineered antibodies. Regeneron’s cocktail includes a monoclonal antibody that targets the spike protein the virus uses to drill into healthy cells, and another antibody that targets a different part of the novel coronavirus. With two, the hope is to trap and shut down viral replication.

“When you weigh the potential benefit versus the risks, the downsides are very low here because we have not seen any safety concerns,” Regeneron CEO Dr. Leonard Schleifer told CNN in an interview after Trump received an 8 gram dose of the treatment.

Early data from the company’s antibody trials released recently showed it worked fairly safely with few side effects.

“This class of drugs is an extremely safe class,” Schleifer said.

Dr. Richard Besser, a former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who now heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said it makes sense that a treatment that gives a patient antibodies would help the immune system, but he said peer review will find any holes or pitfalls.

“I would withhold judgment on this until we see the data,” Besser said. “You know these early results that keep coming out from companies in press releases strike me as being … much more about the stock price than they are about science.”

But Dr. Thomas Frieden, also a former CDC director, disagreed with Besser.

Although Regeneron’s antibody therapy is unproven, it is “a promising treatment,” Frieden told CNN.

“There’s a report that only fewer than 300 patients have received it,” he said. “It seems to be most effective early in the disease, especially before patients make antibodies of their own.”

“We don’t know if it’ll be

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on health

The Latest: South Korea Has Biggest Case Jump in a Week | World News

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 114 new cases of the coronavirus, its first daily jump of over 100 in a week.

Health officials had raised concerns that infections will rise because of increased travel during the five-day Chuseok harvest holiday that ended Sunday.

The figures released by health officials Wednesday brought South Korea’s case total to 24,353 for the pandemic, including 425 deaths.

Ninety-two of the newly confirmed cases were in the Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of a viral resurgence since mid-August. Health officials have been struggling to track transmissions linked to various places, including hospitals, churches, restaurants and an army unit in Pocheon, north of Seoul, where 37 soldiers so far have tested positive.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Pentagon says top military leaders are under self-quarantine

— How do I politely ask someone to wear a mask? If in store or restaurant, have a manager make the request

— Virginia Gov. Northam has mild symptoms 2 weeks after virus diagnosis

— Despite decades of warnings about the fragile supply lines bringing protective gear from overseas factories to America’s health care workers, the U.S. was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic.

— Hospitals and staff are stretched to their limits again in Madrid, where the surging number of COVID-19 patients in September forced an expansion of critical care beds into gymnasiums.

— Service workers in New Orleans who were laid off because of the coronavirus’s impact on the economy are earning a living by helping others survive during the pandemic.

— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s governor says the state will reinstate restrictions on businesses, houses of worship and schools in and around areas where coronavirus cases are spiking.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that the severity of shutdowns would vary by proximity to hot spots.

The rules will take effect no later than Friday in parts of New York City’s Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, sections of Orange and Rockland counties north of the city, and an area within the upstate city of Binghamton near the Pennsylvania border.

The planned restrictions include shutdowns of schools and nonessential businesses in some areas. Others would set limits on gatherings and in restaurants.

RENO, Nev. — Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak will be tested for the coronavirus and work out of his Las Vegas office indefinitely after a positive test was confirmed for a staff member working at the governor’s office in the state Capitol in Carson City.

Communications director Meghin Delaney said Tuesday that the staffer has not had in-person contact with the governor since mid-September. She says Sisolak departed northern Nevada on Sept. 17 and has been working from Las Vegas since then.

The governor had been scheduled to return to Carson City next week but his travel is on hold until officials get test results for all staffers there.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The president

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on health

L.A. County won’t move into a new reopening tier this week, officials say

Despite some promising numbers, Los Angeles County is not expected to move into a more permissive phase of relaxing coronavirus restrictions this week, public health officials announced Monday.



a person riding on the back of a car: Health worker Hannah Kwon works at a drive-thru COVID-19 test site established by Councilman Herb Wesson on Saturday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

© Provided by The LA Times
Health worker Hannah Kwon works at a drive-thru COVID-19 test site established by Councilman Herb Wesson on Saturday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

In order to decide when a county can move to a new tier in California’s four-phase reopening plan, state officials are keeping an eye on two metrics: the rate of daily new cases per 100,000 residents over a recent seven-day period, which is adjusted to account for how much testing each county is doing, and the average percentage of tests for the virus that come back positive over seven days.

The state also recently created an equity metric that establishes specific positive case rate numbers that larger counties must meet in their poorer cities and neighborhoods.

L.A. County’s overall seven-day average positivity rate — 2.9% — and the positivity rate in its communities that have the fewest resources — 4.6% — both qualify the county to move into Tier 3, or orange, which indicates that community transmission is moderate, Barbara Ferrer, the county health director, said Monday.

But the county last week reported an adjusted case rate of 7.3 cases per 100,000 residents, placing it within Tier 1, or purple, which indicates that community transmission is widespread. State officials have said that a county can’t move out of Tier 1 until its adjusted case rate drops to 7 or less for two consecutive weeks.

“So even if our numbers tomorrow are at 7 new cases per day or less, we would still need another week of qualifying metrics,” Ferrer said.

However, Ferrer said, it’s possible for L.A. County to progress to Tier 2, or red, even if it doesn’t get its case rate down to 7, provided the rate continues to decline, and that its positivity rate and equity metric continue to meet the criteria for Tier 3, or orange.

“Say we don’t get to 7 but we are at 7.1, so we dropped from 7.3 to 7.1,” Ferrer said. “Then there is a possibility, if we can continue that this week and next week, that we would be able to move to red — not to orange, but we’d be able to move up one tier.”

L.A. County recorded 472 additional cases of the virus and seven related deaths Monday, Ferrer said, though she noted that case numbers are usually low on Mondays due to a weekend reporting lag.

There were 685 confirmed coronavirus patients in county hospitals as of Sunday, compared with more than 2,200 at the peak of the crisis in July.

The decline in new cases and hospitalizations has paved the way for the county to move forward with the latest wave of business reopenings, with casino cardrooms resuming outdoor operations Monday. Schools were also able to start applying to the county for waivers to resume in-person

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