November 12 coronavirus news

By Julia Hollingsworth, Jenni Marsh, Zamira Rahim, Ed Upright, Roya Wolverson and Joshua Berlinger, CNN

Updated 12:17 a.m. ET, November 13, 2020
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12:25 a.m. ET, November 12, 2020

US hospitals approach "crisis level" as some reach capacity and others face threats of strike

From CNN's Kay Jones, Brad Parks, Alec Snyder and Rebekah Riess

Hospitals in the United States are coming under immense strain as some reach full capacity and others face threats of strikes by staff.

Mississippi's Department of Health announced Wednesday that the state’s Covid-19 hospitalizations “are on track toward the crisis level we saw this summer,” warning that if changes weren't made immediately, there would be critical shortages of first-line care for those seriously ill or injured.  

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves extended mask mandates for 15 countries through December 11, according to a release from the Governor’s office. 

The Mayo Clinic Health System said its hospitals in Northwest Wisconsin were full to capacity, with 100% of its beds filled in the region. It said that half of the intensive care unit capacity is occupied by Covid-19 patients, while 40% of regular medical surgical beds are being used by Covid-19 patients -- who it said normally stay in hospital 2-3 times longer than non-Covid patients. 

"The public urgently needs to treat Covid-19 as the health emergency it is to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed,” the Mayo Clinic Health System said in a joint statement sent to CNN Wednesday.

Approximately 300 hospital staff in the area are on work restrictions due to exposure to Covid-19, the statement added. 

"While we are temporarily deferring elective procedures in order to free up beds for Covid-19 patients, the public needs to understand we continue to care for other patient populations in addition to Covid patients -- we remain open for trauma, emergency care, and urgent care needs," the statement said.

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 nurses in Philadelphia are on the verge of striking, according to a spokesperson with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP). 

The nurses feel they have been “pushed to the brink by unsafe staffing that seriously undermines patient safety,” according to the release.

“The frontline nurses at four Philadelphia-area hospitals have taken steps toward a strike to protect their patients and themselves on the cusp of a second deadly wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the release said. "The nurses are seeking a commitment to safe minimum staffing levels from each of the four hospitals."

CNN has reached out to Trinity Health, Tower Health and Einstein Health for comment. 

12:02 a.m. ET, November 12, 2020

Coronavirus pandemic reveals “big problems” in clinical trials, FDA expert says

From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed “problems” with the state of clinical trials, Dr Janet Woodcock, the director of the Centers for Drug Evaluation and Research at the United States Food and Drug Administration, said this week.

There are currently more than 700 trials for coronavirus therapeutics underway in the US, Woodcock said.

Most are not going to tell doctors very much that’s useful, said Woodcock, who is also leading Operation Warp Speed’s search for new therapeutics against Covid-19.

Woodcock made her comments to the New England Journal of Medicine in a discussion that was posted online.

One of the concerns about the large number of trials is that they are started by different investigators and are each too small to have answers. Plus, there’s a lack of coordination among them. 

“You take convalescent plasma -- we don't have a single trial,” Woodcock said. “Even though that's been available for quite a long time, we don't have a single trial that is large enough to yield answers right now, a randomized trial, and we're supporting continued conduct of those randomized trials."

The uncoordinated nature of these trials “is a really big problem,” Woodcock said, adding that the trials are “underpowered,” and many will never enroll enough patients to really yield data.

“And since many of these patients are in the community, they don't have an opportunity to participate in trials, and so if tens of thousands of people who are ill and most of them cannot be entered into trials where we can learn knowledge quickly, this is really a challenge,” she added.

“We need as a community to come together after this and do some lessons learned and figure out how to respond better,” she said.

12:00 a.m. ET, November 12, 2020

Navajo Nation more than doubles number of communities with "uncontrolled spread" of Covid-19

From CNN’s Konstantin Toropin

The Navajo Nation -- a tribal area which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah -- has issued a health advisory to 21 new communities warning residents of the “uncontrolled spread” of Covid-19, according to a statement.

The Native American territory now has 34 communities under a 14-day advisory for Covid-19 spread, the statement added. 

Residents in the impacted communities are “advised to stay on the Navajo Nation and refrain from off-Reservation travel,” a public health order from the Navajo Department of Health said.

“Individuals are also advised not to gather with anyone outside your immediate household and stay within your local communities.”

Navajo leaders said in the statement that the increase in the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 is “largely due to travel off the Navajo Nation and family gatherings.”

As a result, the nation will implement a 56-hour curfew starting at 9pm on Friday November 13, the statement explained. 

“We are dealing with an invisible monster and the only way we are going to beat this virus is by doing it together and listening to our public health experts,” said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez in the statement. 

The Navajo Nation was once a prominent hot spot for Covid-19 in the US. In May, the nation surpassed New York and New Jersey for the highest per-capita Coronavirus infection rate.

Nez cited multi-generation living situations, a lack of running water among residents and fewer places to purchase food as causes for increased spread of the disease in May.

1:11 a.m. ET, November 12, 2020

New CDC guidance could be “huge” in motivating people to wear masks, says former CDC director

From CNN Health’s Lauren Mascarenhas

The new United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on mask wearing could be “huge” in motivating people to wear masks, former acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser said Wednesday.

The CDC updated its guidance Tuesday to say that masks can help protect the wearer, not just those around them, from coronavirus infection. Previously, CDC had said the main benefit of masks was to help prevent infected people from spreading the virus to others.

The guidance is in line with public health advisories issued in many places throughout Asia at the beginning of the pandemic and has been credited with helping to curb the spread of the virus in those countries.

Besser told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the updated guidance from the CDC on mask wearing is “critically important.”

“It's hard to motivate people in terms of protecting other people, but in terms of protecting yourselves, getting your loved ones, your children, your parents to wear masks -- this could be huge,” he said. 

“If people wear masks, then we're going to be able to avoid the broad -- the total shutdowns that we saw in the spring,” said Besser, who currently heads Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health philanthropy.