November 12 coronavirus news

All Americans who want to get a Covid-19 will be able to do so by April, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.

“Initially, in December and January, we're going to be having very targeted vaccinations, also helped in large part by some of our largest chains, like Walgreens and CVS,” Azar told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview.

The US does not have an authorized coronavirus vaccine yet. But one vaccine maker, Pfizer, reported promising early data on Monday and officials widely expect the company to be able to apply for US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization before the end of this month. 

Azar said HHS believes there will be enough vaccine for “all of our most vulnerable citizens” to get vaccinated in December, followed by “all of our senior citizens, as well as our emergency first responders and our health care workers” in January. 

HHS announced Thursday that it is partnering with large chain pharmacies and networks to increase access to an expected Covid-19 vaccine.

“It’s really during those stages that this broad community pharmacy program will be available,” Azar added.

Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at -94 Fahrenheit (-70 Celsius), far below the capacity of standard freezers. That could pose significant storage and distribution challenges.

Sergio Hernandez, a nurse who contracted Covid-19, became a patient in his own hospital.

Just before he was intubated, he recorded a video message for his family in an effort to reassure them that he’d be all right.

“I will recover, God willing. We will move forward. I will see you again, friends, family … I know you will be praying for me,” he said in the video, which was translated from Spanish. “I love you and you are in my heart.”

Just hours later, he died. Hernandez, 28, leaves behind a wife and five-year-old son.

“His son was his life. Everything he did, all of his efforts, all of the risks he took, it was all for him, his son, and his family,” his cousin Adalberto Hernandez said on Anderson Cooper Full Circle.

Sergio Hernandez lost his sister to Covid-19 and helped his mother and another sister recover from their own battles with the virus.

“After nursing them at home he decided to then go risk his life to help others battling Covid at the same hospital that he would end up passing.”

The United States currently has more people hospitalized with Covid-19 than ever before, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).

Last Thursday, the US reported 53,322 current hospitalizations.

Those states are: Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming and Puerto Rico.

Record high hospitalizations are expected to continue as new Covid-19 cases continue to skyrocket.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned today that a second wave of coronavirus is headed for the city, but said if New Yorkers practice proper social distancing the wave could still be stopped. 

"We have a second wave bearing down on us but we can stop that second wave," he said, in response to a question from CNN's Wolf Blitzer on whether or not he would shut down schools if more than 3% of Covid-19 tests came back positive, as he promised to in the summer. The current positive rate over a seven day rolling period is 2.6%.

"We've proven there's a formula for beating this virus and getting the people fully engaged because when people decide they are going to change their behavior that's when you beat back the virus," said the mayor.

De Blasio said New Yorkers could stop the second wave by refraining from holiday travel and large gatherings and by wearing masks. 

While technological advances are generally positive for societies over the long term, Powell said, on a short-term basis they create disruption, and as the market adjusts to the new normal the pain isn't shared evenly.

For example, it's likely that lower-paid workers, as well as those in jobs requiring face-to-face interactions, such as retail or restaurant workers, will shoulder most of the burden of this shift. These groups, heavily skewed towards women and minorities, have already been among those most affected by pandemic layoffs, Powell said.

A drug normally prescribed to treat multiple sclerosis helped reduce the risk of severe disease from Covid-19, British researchers reported Thursday.

But more research is needed to show whether the drug, which calms down the immune system, can really help people with severe coronavirus infections.

The researchers found British biotechnology company Synairgen's new experimental version of interferon beta-1a, repurposed to treat Covid-19, increased the odds of improvement and recovery among hospitalized Covid-19 patients in a Phase 2 trial.

SNG001 is an inhaled formula of interferon beta-1a, typically used to decrease inflammation and reduce the nerve damage caused by multiple sclerosis. In the trial, SNG001 was administered to 48 patients using a nebulizer while 50 patients received the placebo.

After two weeks, patients who got the daily treatment were twice as likely to show signs of recovery by day 15 or 16 and more than three times as likely to improve by day 28 than those who got placebo, the researchers found. However, "there was no significant difference between treatment groups in the odds of hospital discharge or time to hospital discharge," the researchers wrote.

A wedding reception in Maine led to three separate Covid-19 outbreaks that infected 117 people, putting three into the hospital and killing seven more, health investigators reported Thursday.

None of those who got seriously ill or died even went to the wedding, and many lived 100 miles away. It is a case study of how failure to follow social distancing and masking guidelines can have far-reaching consequences, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly report.

“The bride, groom, and groom’s family (seven persons) traveled from California to Maine on August 6,” the researchers wrote. No one quarantined. But the index patient, the researchers said, was a Maine resident whose symptoms began the day after the wedding.

The wedding reception took place on August 7 and included 55 people. Maine guidelines allow no more than 50 people at an indoor gathering. Guests were seated 6-8 people per table, and remained in close contact during the event. 

While event staff conducted temperature checks and wore masks, further mitigation efforts fell by the wayside. “Although the facility had signs posted at the entrance instructing visitors to wear masks, guests did not comply with this requirement nor maintain a physical distance of at least six feet, and staff members did not enforce these measures,” the researcher wrote. 

Five days after the wedding, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention received reports that two guests had tested positive. Thirty guests and vendors eventually tested positive for Covid-19 within two weeks of the reception. The small town where the wedding was held had not seen a single case of Covid-19 before the wedding, but afterwards, 27 citizens who had not attended the wedding tested positive, and one died.

One guest who tested positive developed a cough, yet attended an in-person school meeting, taking no precautions. Later, two school staff members tested positive, and school openings were delayed for two weeks while exposed staff quarantined. 

But the spread went even further afield.

“In addition to the community outbreak, secondary and tertiary transmission led to outbreaks at a long-term care facility 100 miles away and at a correctional facility approximately 200 miles away,” wrote the researchers. 

One wedding guest infected a parent who worked at the long-term care facility and one guest worked at the corrections facility. Both continued to work while experiencing Covid-19 symptoms that included cough, fever, and a loss of taste. The outbreak at the corrections facility infected 82 people, most of them staff, while the outbreak at the care facility infected 38. Three care facility residents were hospitalized, and six died. 

Conditions within the corrections facility also likely aided viral spread. “The facility had not implemented daily symptom screening for staff members or enforced regular use of masks after the first case was identified,” said the authors. The corrections facility did eventually practice these measures after the outbreak began.

The total toll is likely an undercount, the researchers said, because the investigators never were given a guest list to track down everyone who may have been affected. 

The longest-serving member of Congress, 87-year-old Don Young, says he has been diagnosed with Covid-19.

Young was first elected as Alaska’s at-large member of the House of Representatives in a 1973 special election and was just reelected to his 25th consecutive term.

Young is the oldest member of Congress in either chamber.

His age puts him at a very high risk category for the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines state: "The greatest risk for severe illness from Covid-19 is among those aged 85 or older."

Chicago has issued a stay-at-home advisory, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise throughout the city.

According to a release announcing the advisory, residents are encouraged to stay at home, only leaving for school or work and for essential needs. That includes seeking medical care, grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy, and picking up food.

The advisory goes into effect on Monday, November 16 and will remain in place for 30 days.

Residents are also "strongly advised" to not have guests in their homes outside of essential workers like home healthcare providers or childcare workers, cancel traditional Thanksgiving celebrations and to avoid travel. 

Chicago has 122,712 total cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the dashboard. The most recent 7-day positivity rate is now at 14.1%, up from 10.9% the previous week.