A coronavirus vaccine might not be widely available until several months into 2021. USA TODAY
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech plan to file for emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration, possibly as early as Friday, two days after announcing its COVID-19 vaccine is 95% effective.
Pfizer CEO and chairman Albert Bourla told NPR’s All Things Considered that the company hopes to file for authorization Friday and start distributing the vaccine within hours of its approval. Half of the vaccines produced will go to the U.S. and the other half for the rest of the world, he said.
On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a month-long 10 p.m. curfew, beginning Saturday, for nearly all residents in the nation’s most populous state.
Meanwhile, Hawaii updated its pre-travel testing program to require a negative test result before departure. The state had previously allowed travelers to upload their test results after arriving the state. The new rule goes into effect Tuesday, two days before the Thanksgiving holiday.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 11.7million cases and more than 252,500deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 56.8million cases and 1.36 million deaths.
🗺️ Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak in your state.
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Texas county makes plea for workers to move 200-plus bodies
El Paso County, one of the hardest-hit areas in Texas amid the COVID-19 pandemic, put out a call Thursday night for the immediate hiring of morgue attendants to help move bodies.
“Not only is this assignment physically taxing, but it may be emotionally taxing as well,” a county announcement stated.
The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office had 247 bodies at the morgue and inside nine refrigerated trailers serving as mobile morgues, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said in news release, prompting county commissioners to authorize the hiring of additional workers.
– Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Mexico becomes 4th country to top 100K deaths
Mexico passed the 100,000 mark in COVID-19 deaths Thursday, joining the United States, Brazil and India as the only countries to reach the somber milestone.
José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, said there were 100,104 confirmed COVID-19 deaths as of Thursday. That comes less than a week after Mexico said it had topped 1 million registered coronavirus cases, though officials agree the number is probably much higher because of low levels of testing.
The lack of testing — Mexico tests only people with severe symptoms and has performed only around 2.5 million tests in a country of 130 million — the lack of hospitals in many areas and the fear of the ones that do exist, has created a fertile breeding ground for ignorance, suspicion and fear.
Legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz tests positive
Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz has confirmed he has tested positive for COVID-19. Holtz, 83, told ABC Columbia on Thursday that he is recovering from the virus. “I don’t have a lot of energy right now,” said Holtz, who’s best known for his 11-year tenure at Notre Dame that included a Fiesta Bowl win and a national championship in the 1988 season.
Over the summer, when the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences announced they were postponing their college football schedules because of the coronavirus pandemic, Holtz strongly objected, comparing players to American soldiers in World War II.
Since his retirement from coaching in 2004, Holtz has worked as an analyst for ESPN and has made numerous public appearances supporting President Donald Trump.
– Steve Gardner
California adopts stricter COVID workplace safety rules
California officials on Thursday approved new regulations requiring employers to implement safety measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, the latest state to adopt stricter rules.
The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board heard testimony on an emergency temporary standard that requires businesses to educate employees on ways to prevent infection, provide free personal protective equipment and offer free COVID-19 testing to all employees if three or more employees are infected with the coronavirus within a 14-day period, among other measures.
California joins Oregon, Michigan and Virginia in implementing similar standards. Virginia became the first state in the country to approve temporary new workplace safety rules after lawmakers passed the measures in July, citing inaction by federal officials.
Smithsonian’s DC-area sites plan to close again
After reopening seven Washington-area museums and the National Zoo over the summer, the Smithsonian on Thursday announced it would close again, starting Monday, and did not give a date for reopening.
The sites were closed in March during the first wave of the coronavirus. They reopened in July, August and September with limited hours, lower capacity, social distancing and mandatory face masks.
Nearly 30% of U.S. museums remain closed from the original March shutdown, according to a survey by the American Alliance of Museums. (Most of the Smithsonian’s sites in Washington and New York have not reopened.) Those that have reopened are operating at 35% of their regular attendance, which Laura Lott, the group’s president and CEO, called “unsustainable long-term.”
– Curtis Tate
COVID-19 resources from USA TODAY
Contributing: The Associated Press
