City of sioux COVID-19 UPDATE: Monday, Nov. 23

6 min readNov 23, 2020

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Monday late-stage trials of its Covid-19 vaccine, developed in conjunction with U.K.’s University of Oxford, have shown it to be “highly effective.”

The results are the third promising vaccine breakthrough in the fight against the coronavirus. Earlier this month, Pfizer and Moderna reported preliminary results from late-stage trials, showing that their vaccine candidates were almost 95 percent effective.

LATEST ORANGE COUNTY CASE NUMBERS
Total cases (cumulative): 55,047
New cases (in the past 24 hours): 390 (Last updated Nov. 21)
Hospital beds available: 1,251 out of 4,426 (Last updated Nov. 21)
Resident deaths: 629
Residents: 54,641
Residents not in Florida: 1
Non-residents: 409

Boris Johnson hopes most vulnerable Britons will be vaccinated by Easter
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday he hoped most Britons at high risk from the coronavirus would be vaccinated against the disease by Easter.

“We should be able to inoculate, I believe on the evidence I’m seeing, the vast majority of the people who need the most protection by Easter,” Johnson told a press conference.

The prime minister stressed, however, that that hope was entirely hypothetical and it depended on whether Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency independently decided that the vaccines worked and were safe.

Johnson said the government would not force people to have vaccinations.

“That’s not the way we do things in this country,” he said.

But he stressed that his government thought the vaccination was a good idea.

“I totally reject the propaganda of the anti-vaxxers, they are wrong,” he said. “Everybody should get a vaccine as soon as it is available.”

Two members of the Kansas City Fire Department died over the weekend from Covid-19, officials said.

Capt. Robert Rocha, 60, a 29-year-veteran of the department, died early Saturday morning. Scott Davidson, 45, an 18-year-veteran of the department who had served as a paramedic and most recently as a communications specialist, died on Sunday.

Officials thanked them for their service and extended condolences to both of their families.

“KCFD first responders continue to put their lives on the line daily in service to our City as this pandemic rages on,”the department’s chief, Donna Lake, said. “My request to all is to follow the guidance to protect yourself and your family from the virus.”

Three Kansas City Fire Department first responders have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, the department said in a press release.

White House will proceed with holiday parties despite official guidance
WASHINGTON — Public health officials are sounding alarms and urging Americans not to travel and limit gatherings this holiday season amid a new surge in coronavirus cases.

But that isn’t stopping the White House from planning a host of festivities, including holiday parties, which kicked off Monday with the arrival of the White House Christmas tree.

“Attending the parties will be a very personal choice,” said Stephanie Grisham, First Lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman and chief of staff. “It is a longstanding tradition for people to visit and enjoy the cheer and iconic décor of the annual White House Christmas celebrations.”

The decision to move forward with indoor events and other gatherings comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, top White House advisers and public health professionals across the nation have been pleading with Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving or spend the holiday with people from outside of their households.

Grisham said the White House would be taking precautions to provide “the safest environment possible” for attendees at events. That includes smaller guest lists, requiring masks, encouraging social distancing on the White House grounds and hand sanitizer stations placed throughout the State Floor.

“Guests will enjoy food individually plated by chefs at plexiglass-protected food stations. All passed beverages will be covered. All service staff will wear masks and gloves to comply with food safety guidelines,” she said.

Ohio reports more than 11,000 new Covid-19 cases
Ohio saw 11,885 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 over the last 24 hours, health officials announced Monday, as the state’s governor described the virus as a “fast, runaway freight train.”

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Monday that the new numbers might appear inflated because of a two-day delay in case reporting from the Cleveland Clinic and Mercy Health.

“This high jump in cases is caused, at least in part, by technical problems with two labs being unable to report cases for two days. There are also many antigen tests still pending,” DeWine said in a tweet.

Ohio also reported that 24 people have died of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of virus fatalities in the state to just over 6,000.

CDC upgrades warning on cruise ship travel to highest risk level possible
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday raised its warning against cruise trip travel amid the pandemic, recommending “all people avoid travel on cruise ships.”

The new travel notice comes 3 weeks after the CDC issued a “Conditional Sailing Order” for cruise ships traveling within U.S. waters, which lifted an eight-month no-sail order and gave cruise lines the green light to set sail again.

Now, the federal agency has changed course. In new guidelines, it has classified cruise ship travel as “Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19” and it’s asking that people avoid cruise ship travel, including river cruises, worldwide.

“Cruise passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships,” read the CDC’s updated travel notice for cruise ship travel.

But for those still considering cruises despite the risk, the CDC suggests social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing. “Passengers who decide to go on a cruise should get tested 3–5 days after your trip AND stay home for 7 days after travel. Even if you test negative, stay home for the full 7 days,” the travel notice read.

Pennsylvania could run out of ICU beds within a week
Pennsylvania has seen a “worrisome” increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations in recent days and could run out of intensive care unit beds within a week, according to the state’s secretary of health.

There are 3,379 Pennsylvanians currently hospitalized with coronavirus, 775 of whom are in the ICU, according to the state department of health. Meanwhile, the statewide percent-positivity rate has climbed to 11.1 percent, up from 9.6 percent the week prior, secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said in their weekly coronavirus status update.

“This week’s data, in terms of hospitalization increase, an increase in the use of ventilators, case increase and percent positivity are worrisome,” Levine said in the status update, released Monday. “Latest models show we could run out of ICU beds within a week.”

Wolf called the latest uptick a “call to action.”

“We need all Pennsylvanians to take the steps they can to protect one another,” he said.

Black doctors endorse taking ‘safe and effective’ COVID vaccine
A group of eight esteemed Black doctors wrote a “love letter to Black America” to encourage people to get the Covid-19 vaccine once it becomes available.

The letter comes months after a significant portion of Black Americans said they were unlikely to get the first-generation coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available, according to an Axios/Ipsos poll. Compared to slightly more than half of white and Latino respondents who said they’d get the vaccine, 72 percent of Black respondents said they would not immediately get a vaccination for Covid-19.

In addition to some general skepticism over the vaccine, there is historical skepticism among the Black community regarding medical experimentation and vaccines. Many point to the experiences of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken by doctors at Johns Hopkins University without her knowledge for experimentation as she died of cancer, and of the men subjected to the torturous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

City of sioux COVID-19 UPDATE: Monday, Nov. 23

Written by FSU