November 23 coronavirus news

By Jessie Yeung, Adam Renton, Emma Reynolds, Ed Upright, Melissa Macaya and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, November 24, 2020
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9:53 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

Colorado will take part in a dry run for Covid-19 vaccine distribution

From CNN's Raja Razek

The state of Colorado announced Monday it will participate in a dress rehearsal for the federal government's coronavirus distribution plan.

The Colorado State Joint Information Center said in a news release that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Operation Warp Speed (OWS) have chosen the state to participate in "a pilot run of the end-to-end logistics readiness test" for Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

"Colorado is prepared to receive and distribute COVID-19 vaccine(s) as soon as one becomes available," the release said.
"Participating in the end-to-end test is an opportunity to increase operational readiness as well as evaluate the state's ability to coordinate, communicate, and share information from a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary standpoint," it added.

Colorado has confirmed a total of 192,943 Covid-19 cases, with 2,456 deaths.

According to Colorado's Covid-19 dashboard, the state's test positivity rate is 11.07%, and the seven-day moving average of new hospitalizations is 239. 

Note: These numbers were released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN's database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

9:26 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

FDA asks committee critical to vaccine authorization to meet twice in December 

From CNN Health’s Elizabeth Cohen

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked members of its vaccine advisory committee to reserve Dec. 17 and 18 for meetings, presumably to discuss a coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna, according to a source familiar with the process. 

The FDA consults with its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee before allowing any vaccine -- including a coronavirus vaccine -- to go on the market. 

On Sunday, Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, mentioned a Dec. 17 FDA review for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Last week, the pharmaceutical company announced that initial data shows its vaccine is 94.5% effective against Covid-19.  

The FDA has called a meeting of the committee for Dec. 10 to consider Pfizer’s application for emergency use authorization for the vaccine it has developed with its partner BioNTech. Pfizer says its vaccine is 95% effective against Covid-19. 

Moderna is awaiting more data on study participants who became ill with coronavirus and could apply to the FDA for emergency use authorization in the next week, according to a Moderna spokesman. 

“Within the next week or so, we expect to see efficacy data based on 151 COVID-19 cases per our protocol, and, if appropriate based on the data, make an EUA submission shortly thereafter,” spokesman Ray Jordan told CNN.
9:19 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

England reduces 14-day isolation period for travelers required to self-isolate

From CNN's Zahid Mahmood 

Travellers exit Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 on August 22, 2020 in London, England.
Travellers exit Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 on August 22, 2020 in London, England. Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Starting Dec. 15, England will introduce a new coronavirus testing strategy for passengers arriving from a "non-exempt" country where passengers will only have to self-isolate for five days, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Tuesday.

In a statement, the Department for Transport said the plan would replace the existing rules that require passengers to self-isolate for 14 days. On completion of the new five-day isolation, passengers will need to show a receipt of a negative coronavirus test in order to be declared coronavirus-free.

“We have a plan in place to ensure that our route out of this pandemic is careful and balanced, allowing us to focus on what we can now do to bolster international travel while keeping the public safe,” Shapps said in a statement.

“Our new testing strategy will allow us to travel more freely, see loved ones and drive international business. By giving people the choice to test on day five, we are also supporting the travel industry as it continues to rebuild out of the pandemic.”

The statement also said that under the plan, passengers arriving by plane, ferry or train should book their test before they travel and must complete a passenger locator form.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the coronavirus test of the isolation period would identify positive coronavirus cases and allow those who test negative to return to work.

“This will be done at the cost of the traveller to protect the capacity of NHS Test and Trace and ensure that any UK resident who has symptoms is able to get a test,” Hancock said in the statement.

The Transport Department told CNN that the first day of passenger isolation would take place on arrival to England.

8:32 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

People need to be told they may feel sick after getting Covid-19 vaccine, CDC committee says

From CNN's Maggie Fox

Americans need to be prepared for the possibility that they may feel a little unwell after they get a coronavirus vaccine, if one is authorized, members of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee said Monday.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met to discuss whether to recommend use of any Covid-19 vaccine that the US Food and Drug Administration might authorize.

Volunteers in vaccine trials have reported they frequently feel flu-like effects after getting vaccinated, and members of the ACIP -- as well as liaison representatives who take part in the discussion -- said that could affect people's willingness to get vaccinated in the first place, or to get the second dose of the two-vaccine regimen.

"As a practicing physician, I have got to be sure my patients will come back for the second dose. We really have got to make patients aware that this is not going to be a walk in the park," Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the Emory University School of Medicine, representing the American Medical Association, told the meeting.
"They are going to know they got a vaccine. They are not going to feel wonderful."

The whole point of vaccination is to cause an immune response in the body and that can sometimes cause flu-like symptoms such as body aches, or even fever and a headache.

Read the full story:

7:20 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

Fauci concerned that Thanksgiving travel will amplify coronavirus surge

From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman

PBS News hour
PBS News hour

Millions of Americans are traveling for Thanksgiving this week and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that he is worried.

“What most concerns me now is, you know, the immediate situation with people traveling from different places, coming home for Thanksgiving,” Fauci said during an interview with the PBS Newshour.

“When you leave a location and have to go to an airport or wherever it is, a train station, et cetera, the possibility of exposing yourself and then going home to your home community for a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving holiday might actually, unfortunately, be a source of, or even amplification of, the surge,” said Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force.

Fauci said he has other worries, too.

Numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all growing, Fauci pointed out. “Superimpose upon that that as we get further into the late fall and early winter with the weather being colder, forcing more people throughout most regions of the country to do things indoors more than outdoors — this is something that, you know, at obviously at face value is a very, very challenging situation,” he said.

The infectious disease expert said people who have decided to travel this week “are putting themselves and their families at risk.”

Much of the time, people who are infected with Covid-19 but have no symptoms and are responsible for community spread, Fauci said.

“So what we ask people to do is to at least, stop for a moment and do what I call a risk benefit assessment of what you want to do in the holiday, what you want to do for the season where you bring people in your home,” he said.

If you have elderly people in your home or individuals with underlying health conditions, Fauci suggested, you should really weigh hosting a celebration this year.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week advised Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving this year because of the surging pandemic.

 

7:14 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

US set another record for new Covid cases in children last week, group says

From CNN’s Jen Christensen

There were more than 144,000 new cases of Covid-19 reported among children in the week ending Nov. 19 – marking the highest weekly increase since the pandemic began, according to an update Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Children now account for more than 11% of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the US. There has been a 28% increase in child Covid-19 cases over two weeks.

The AAP said 144,145 new cases among children 17 and under were reported from Nov. 5 to 19. The group, which represents pediatricians, says nearly 1.2 million children have been infected in the US as of Nov. 19. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 12.2 million Americans have been infected with the novel coronavirus.

Severe illness and death from Covid-19 are still rare among children. As of Nov. 19, children represented between 1.2% and 3.1% of total hospitalizations, depending on the state. Between 0.2% and 5.6% of all child Covid-19 cases resulted in hospitalizations in states that reported that information, and fewer than 0.14% of all children with Covid-19 died. Seventeen states reported no child deaths.

The count is not complete, because not all states report data the same way. These numbers come from 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. A smaller subset of states report information about hospitalizations and deaths by age.

The AAP says there is an “urgent need” to collect more data on longer-term impacts on children, including the ways in which the virus may hurt children physically and emotionally long-term.

7:13 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

Covid-19 hospitalizations surge in California

From CNN's Cheri Mossburg

An unoccupied hospital bed is seen in a Covid-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, California on November 19.
An unoccupied hospital bed is seen in a Covid-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, California on November 19. Jae C. Hong/AP

California continues to see unprecedented spread of the coronavirus with hospitalizations surging 77% and intensive care admissions swelling by 55% over the past two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

California added 8,837 new coronavirus cases to start the week, well below the state’s seven-day average of 11,591. New case counts are typically lower on Monday because of reporting lags over the weekend. 

People between the ages of 18-49 account for about 60% of all cases, according to data provided by Newsom, and the 14-day positivity rate stands at 5.8%. About 265,000 tests were conducted in the state on Saturday, higher than the average of 198,000.

California has millions of personal protective equipment supplies at the ready and has 11 surge facilities available which can add nearly 2,000 beds within a matter of a few days, Newsom said.

While calling the latest vaccine news “encouraging,” Newsom cautioned mass vaccinations are not expected in California until next spring or summer.

Instead, Newsom suggested widespread vaccinations will start ramping up in March through July. California has a strong vaccine network already in place and Newsom anticipates the Covid vaccine will be distributed along that same framework.

“Current planning for Phase 1a (is) well on the way,” Newsom said, adding that Phase Two of the vaccine plan will likely come about in January.

Delivering his comments remotely from home where he is quarantining with his family following a recent Covid-19 exposure, Newsom said, “I feel perfectly healthy,�� though he seemed to have a somewhat raspy voice, and coughed a couple of times. He quickly acknowledged the coughs and blamed tea getting caught in his throat “and nothing more.”

A California Highway Patrol officer who was infected with Covid-19 had close contact with three of Newsom’s four children, the governor revealed over the weekend. Everyone in the household has been tested, he said. Each has tested negative. Additionally, a classmate of one of the governor’s children has been infected and the school has “paused” its in-person teaching.

“Being quarantined with children is challenging,” Newsom said expressing empathy to those who have found themselves in the same position. Newsom and his family have been officially under quarantine since Sunday.

Note: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project. 

6:30 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

Experts debate whether to vaccinate nursing home residents first against Covid-19

From CNN’s Maggie Fox

Experts meeting to decide who should be first in line for any eventual coronavirus vaccine debated Monday whether it would be worthwhile to vaccinate frail residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities first.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices discussed a draft plan for any coronavirus vaccine that would divide the first group to be vaccinated into three subgroups. 

There’s little disagreement that frontline health care workers should be in the first group – 1a. At issue is whether residents of long-term care facilities should be in this group, as well.

There’s no question it’s a highly vulnerable population.

“Long-term care facility residents and staff accounted for 6% of cases and 39% of deaths in the US, despite the fact that long-term care facility residents account for less than 1% of the US population,” the CDC’s Dr. Kathleen Dooling told the meeting.

Plus, it’s a group that would be easier to reach if the staff caring for them are already being immunized in the first phase of any vaccine that might get emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration. 

But ACIP member Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot worried that this frail group might do poorly in general and damage faith in the vaccine. 

“There is such a high mortality rate in long-term care facilities,” Talbot told the meeting. “There will be a number of patients who receive immunizations for Covid and will pass away. And it will most likely be regardless of the vaccine,” Talbot said. 

“But early on as we're building confidence, we will not be able to show any data to say that it was not due to the vaccine because there's not been a randomized, controlled trial. And I think we’re going to have a very striking backlash of, ‘My grandmother got the vaccine and she passed away,’ and they're not likely to be related, but that will become remembered and break some of the confidence in the vaccine.”

But others did not think that putting these residents further back in the line would help.

Dr. Paul Hunter of the Milwaukee Health Department said it would be inefficient to vaccinate health care workers in the facilities but skip residents. “Why not vaccinate people that, you know, you've got it all set up and ready to go?” he asked. “It's an efficiency to vaccinate a bunch of people who could benefit from it.”

The ACIP will not make a decision Monday.

6:40 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from Michigan

From CNN's Anna Sturla

A nurse is seen at the Hackley Community Care Covid-19 curbside testing site in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on November 13.
A nurse is seen at the Hackley Community Care Covid-19 curbside testing site in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on November 13. Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press/ AP

Michigan reported 11,511 new Covid-19 cases and 65 deaths since Saturday, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

The state's total case count is now 314,216, with 8,543 deaths.

Michigan set a record for a single-day increase in Covid-19 cases on Friday, with 9,779 cases. That broke a record set only on Nov. 13.