Coronavirus News (275)

The world recorded more than 1 million new cases in the last three days, and India’s total infections passed 7 million.  The number of new cases is growing faster than ever. Deaths and hospitalizations in some countries are also beginning to rise. The pandemic has sickened more than 37 million people and more than one million people have died globally ..............   Russia on Saturday also set a one-day record of 12,673 new cases. Argentina, which has seen more than 90,000 new cases in the past seven days, is a problem zone in South America, as are Brazil and Colombia. ........... and the Northeast is seeing early signs of a resurgence. 

Trump claims he is now immune to the coronavirus and unable to spread it. Twitter labels his post misleading.  he received cutting-edge combination treatment: remdesivir, an antiviral medication; dexamethasone, a steroid only recently shown to reduce death rates in severe cases; and an experimental cocktail of monoclonal antibodies, designed to turn back the virus shortly after infection. 

Regeneron’s C.E.O. says its promising Covid-19 treatment must be rationed

Across much of Europe, the virus is running wild again.  “This time is different,” he said, “as we are now going into the colder, darker winter months.” 

In Nepal, where hospital beds are few, thousands of Covid-19 patients just stay home — until they can’t.  Coronavirus infections have surpassed 100,000, about a third of which are currently active. ........ Cases in Nepal are increasing sharply, with a record 5,008 new infections recorded on Saturday. The Health Ministry counts fewer than 400 patients in intensive care, but even that has left I.C.U.s overflowing. Frontline doctors have also been infected, raising fears that health institutions’ staffing will be hollowed out. ............  To avoid system collapse, the government has asked Covid-19 patients to stay in home isolation — with the possibility of imprisonment if they venture outside — and to go to hospitals only if their condition turns critical. Almost 16,000 infected patients are in home isolation .............. But by the time infected people become seriously ill, it may be too late. ................. some patients had died in ambulances while searching for I.C.U. beds, others in home isolation, and still others while waiting for I.C.U. beds in isolation wards. More than 600 people have died in Nepal since the pandemic began, a relatively low death rate but one that is likely to rise since the explosion in cases was so recent. ................. darker days are yet to come.” 

Despite derision from Senate Republicans, the White House hasn’t given up trying to make a relief deal. skeptical Senate Republicans would follow President Trump’s lead if Ms. Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, could reach a deal. ......... “Republicans want to do it — we’re having a hard time with Nancy Pelosi,” Mr. Trump said on Sunday, speaking on Fox News. “We’re ready to go. We’re all ready to go. We can’t get Nancy Pelosi to sign the documents.” It was unclear what documents he was referring to. ...............    repurpose funds from the lapsed Paycheck Protection Program as negotiations continued 

The Northeast Held the Virus in Check. Now Cases Are Inching Up Again. The Northeast, devastated by the coronavirus in the spring and held up as a model of infection control by summer, is now seeing early signs of a second wave. ............  and much of the Northeast had successfully tamped down transmission of the virus with physical distancing and masking, as much of Europe had done. “The point is, once you let up on the brake, then eventually, slowly, it comes back” .............  Some 2,800 people are in a hospital in the region, accounting for 8 percent of the hospitalizations nationwide. Those figures are tiny compared with the spring, when tens of thousands of people in the Northeast were hospitalized on any given day, and morgues were running out of body bags. .............   “Places like New York and other states in the Northeast could have more of the classic second wave phenomenon” ............  “Pretty much everybody expects things to get somewhat worse.” ..........  The air turned suddenly chilly in the past few weeks ........... the virus seems to have inexplicably spread all around the county. ............. a city that has the largest school district in the country.   

Coronavirus News (274)

July Is the New January: More Companies Delay Return to the Office From Ford to Microsoft, white-collar companies are increasingly extending working from home through next summer. ...........  and acknowledged the inevitable: The pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon. .............  as the coronavirus shatters work norms and upends assumptions about where workers need to be to achieve maximum productivity ............ “The reality is hitting that, ‘There won’t be a vaccine as I expected very quickly. This is going to be my life, and I’d better learn how to do this.’” ........... likened the situation to waiting at an airport terminal for a flight that is continually delayed ..........   Much of corporate America is now following the lead of Silicon Valley tech companies like Google and Facebook. They were among those that allowed employees to work from home even before the pandemic hit in full force in March. Since then, Facebook has set the tone in planning for permanent remote work .............  announcing the June 2021 return date to employees prompted a “collective sigh of relief inside the company” .......... Remote work has been productive ... and people like not having to commute. But a mix of in-person and remote is probably the most popular option for employees when life returns to normal ... because they also miss the social interaction of an office space. ........... Zoom “is not the same thing, and it’s exhausting,” Ms. Burke said. “By 7 o’clock last night, I was Zoomed out.” .........  digital work is often simpler for people to conduct via laptops and teleconferences than by being on site .............  how productive its employees have been remotely   

Trump’s False Claims as He Resumes His Rallies After Hospitalization In Florida, the president made a series of inaccurate claims about his election opponent, the coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel Peace Prize and Cuba, among other topics.  

Vaccine, Chaos, Confusion It’s tempting to look at the first vaccine as President Trump does: an on-off switch that will bring back life as we know it. .......... But vaccine experts say we should prepare instead for a perplexing, frustrating year. .............  The first vaccines may provide only moderate protection, low enough to make it prudent to keep wearing a mask. .......... Each company is running its own trial, comparing its jab with a placebo. .......... some wanted to test a number of vaccines all at once, against each other — what’s known as a master protocol. ........... Some researchers, including Dr. Fauci, advocated a design much like the W.H.O.’s. ............ The authorization of a vaccine will depend on how much protection the vaccine provides in the Phase 3 trial — what scientists refer to as its efficacy. In June, the F.D.A. set 50 percent efficacy as the target for a coronavirus vaccine. ..............  Operation Warp Speed was on track to have up to 700 million doses of various vaccines by March or April — enough, he said, for “all Americans who wish to get it.” .......... “We’ll have to continue to use a mask for some of these vaccines” ..........   a group of older people could all have strokes shortly after being vaccinated 

Chinese President Xi Jinping urges push towards hi-tech independence Xi says self-reliance is essential because the country is ‘on the cusp of unprecedented changes’ Comments come ahead of address to mark Shenzhen Special Economic Zone milestone