Months into the COVID-19 pandemic states are setting records for the most new cases and deaths in a week since the pandemic began. USA TODAY
Los Angeles County reached 300,000 COVID-19 infections and 7,000 deaths on Monday and health officials said the Lakers’ NBA Finals victory on Oct. 11 may have contributed to a spike in cases.
“It is impossible to determine the exact exposures that contributed to this increase,’’ the L.A. County Department of Public Health said. “However, it is highly likely that gatherings to watch and/or celebrate the Lakers, along with any other gatherings that occurred 2-3 weeks ago where people weren’t wearing face coverings and were in close contact with each other, contributed to the rise in L.A. County cases.’’
Health officials are worried there could be another spike if the Dodgers finish off the Tampa Bay Rays to win their first World Series title since 1988. Game 6 is Tuesday night, with the Dodgers up 3-2 in the series.
In Texas, where coronavirus cases are nearing 900,000, according to a USA TODAY analysis, Texas State University on Monday announced it will hold two in-person commencement ceremonies in December. Both ceremonies will be held outdoors with no more than 25% capacity.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 8.7 million cases and 225,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 43.4 million cases and 1.15 million deaths.
🗺️ Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak in your state.
New Jersey’s largest city begins new coronavirus curfew starting Tuesday
The mayor of Newark, the largest city in New Jersey, is ordering all nonessential businesses to close by 8 p.m. starting Tuesday. Mayor Ras J. Baraka on Monday introduced new coronavirus restrictions as the city experiences a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
“This is not the first time COVID-19 has threatened our city and its residents at this magnitude and once again, we will meet this challenge with determination and guided by data,” Baraka said in a news release. “We did it once before and we can do it again.”
The order requires all nonessential businesses, including restaurants and bars, to close by 8 p.m. Nail salons, beauty salons and barbershops will be open by appointment only with no customers allowed to wait inside. All sports games and practices have been canceled in the city’s East Ward, which has the highest positivity rate of more than 25%, CBS New York reports.
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is surging in the state. Health officials on Monday reported 948 hospitalizations – the highest since July. Gov. Philip D. Murphy on Saturday extended the state’s Public Health Emergency after health officials reported 1,994 new positive cases, the highest daily total since May 5.
University of Arizona asks students who travel for Thanksgiving not to return to campus
With Halloween and Thanksgiving approaching, the University of Arizona is putting measures in place to prohibit the spread of COVID-19.
The university is asking all students to fill out a survey on their planned Thanksgiving travel and to schedule a COVID-19 test as close to their travel date as possible to prohibit the transmission of COVID-19. After Thanksgiving, all classes will be held online only and students who travel out of the Tucson area are encouraged to finish the semester remotely.
University officials are also requiring students to select one of the three following travel options: Students planning to travel for Thanksgiving break can choose to complete the rest of the semester outside of the Tucson area or completely online from their student residence. Students who do not travel for Thanksgiving break are able to complete the semester as is from their student residence.
– Brooke Newman, Arizona Republic
Border city mayor asks Mexico to ban entry by US citizens amid COVID surge
The mayor of Juárez made an urgent plea for help from the Mexican government, asking for medical supplies and to consider banning U.S. citizens from crossing the border. Like in El Paso, Texas, new cases of COVID-19 are surging in Chihuahua state with the epicenter in Juárez, which hit 1,100 deaths over the weekend, state public health officials said.
Juárez Mayor Armando Cabada is asking the Mexican government to consider temporarily banning U.S. citizens from nonessential travel over the border as COVID-19 flares in the region, reports the El Paso Times, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
Travel by U.S. citizens in “indiscriminate crossings at the border in Ciudad Juárez are contributing in an active manner to the expansion of the virus,” Cabada said Friday in a letter to Roberto Velasco Alvarez, director for North America in Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Relations.
The U.S. has restricted nonessential Mexican tourist travel over the land border since March 21, but U.S. residents still are able to go to Mexico.
– Daniel Borunda and Lauren Villagran, El Paso Times
Dow posts worst day in a month as coronavirus counts jump across US
U.S. stocks careened Monday, posting their worst day in a month as a spike in coronavirus cases raised concerns on Wall Street that more woes could be ahead for the still-fragile global economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 650.19 points, or 2.3%, to 27,685.38. It was the blue-chip average’s biggest one-day drop since Sept. 3. The S&P 500 slid 1.9% to 3,400.97, its worst day since Sept. 23. The Nasdaq composite slumped 1.6% to 11,358.94.
Coronavirus counts are spiking in much of the U.S. and Europe, which some investors fear could threaten the global economic recovery following a coronavirus-induced U.S. recession this year.
– Jessica Menton
NIH halts trial of Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody for hospitalized patients
The National Institutes of Health has stopped a trial of a monoclonal antibody being tested in hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19, deciding that it was unlikely to be of help. A similar trial in patients at an earlier stage of disease will continue, Eli Lilly and Co., which makes the antibody, said late Monday.
The trial was stopped earlier this month because of safety concern. Lilly said that an analysis showed that the drug, bamlanivimab, was not dangerous, but also unlikely to help advanced patients.
President Donald Trump, who received a different pair of monoclonal antibodies when he was sick with COVID-19, has proclaimed them a “cure” and promised to provide them free to any American who needs them.
The company that makes the drug he took, Regeneron, has requested an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin providing it. Lilly has requested similar authorization for bamlanivimab in recently diagnosed high-risk patients.
– Karen Weintraub
COVID-19 resources from USA TODAY
Contributing: The Associated Press
