COVID-19 News from Around the Web

In a dozen of those states — Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, Pennsylvania and New York — infections have spiked in the last two weeks, meaning there has been a 100 percent or more increase in confirmed cases over 14 days. The White House coronavirus task force bluntly stated in its latest weekly report that there is "now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country, reaching most counties, without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration.

The deadly rise in COVID-19 cases across the U.S. is forcing state and local officials to adjust their blueprints for fighting the virus, with Republican governors adopting mask mandates — skeptically, in at least one case — and schools scrapping plans to reopen classrooms. The steps face blowback from those who question the science behind mask wearing and social distancing and fear the new restrictions will kill off more jobs and trample on their civil liberties. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds had pushed back against a mask mandate for months but imposed a limited one Tuesday, becoming the latest GOP holdout to change course on face coverings.

With the pandemic out of control in the US, the nation's precarious coronavirus testing system is starting to strain again. Long lines are again forming in some places as the surge of infections drives a surge in demand for testing. Testing companies, lab directors and testing policy experts warn that waiting times for results could soon start to lengthen.

Looking for toilet paper? Good luck. A surge of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. is sending people back to stores to stockpile again, leaving shelves bare and forcing retailers to put limits on purchases. Walmart said Tuesday it’s having trouble keeping up with demand for cleaning supplies in some stores. Supermarket chains Kroger and Publix are limiting how much toilet paper and paper towels shoppers can buy after demand spiked recently. And Amazon is sold out of most disinfectant wipes and paper towels.

New coronavirus cases have surged to an all-time high at nursing homes across the country despite federal efforts to shield residents through aggressive testing and visitor restrictions, a new report shows. Federal data shows 10,279 COVID-19 cases during the week of Nov. 1, the most recent data available. The figures surpassed the previous high of 9,903 cases in late July, according to a report by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

The reports have come in from all across the country: Hospitals are filling up, especially in the Midwest, and they are running out of the staff they need to take care of patients. … From November 4 to November 11, 958 hospitals—19 percent of American hospitals—faced a staffing shortage. This week, 1,109 hospitals reported that they expect to face a staffing shortage. That’s 22 percent of all American hospitals. In eight states, the situation is even more dire. More than 35 percent of hospitals in Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin are anticipating a staffing shortage this week.

President-elect Joe Biden's advisers on the coronavirus pandemic urged the Trump administration on Tuesday to take the formal step that will allow them to tap into data on the pandemic and have conversations with people inside the administration who can tell them what the federal government already has in the works in their COVID-19 response. … They told reporters they don't have access to the government's real-time data on the pandemic and its spread. Biden's team is alarmed by what they are seeing from public data, telling reporters the current surge in cases is by far the worst it has been.

People with obesity – regardless of age – are more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and have higher risks for complications and death, according to new research. … More than 42% of U.S. adults have obesity, according to the CDC. It was already known that obesity can worsen the outcomes from COVID-19, increasing the risk of hospitalizations and death. But for the new study, researchers sought out more concrete data on the intersection of obesity and COVID-19, especially among younger adults.

The study looked at data from 7,868 people hospitalized for COVID-19 between Jan. 17 and July 22 at 88 U.S. hospitals … Hispanic and Black patients had a disproportionate risk of landing in the hospital: 33% were Hispanic, 25.5% were Black, 6.3% were Asian and 35.2% were white. Yet data from the U.S. Census Bureau for ZIP codes where participating hospitals are located show Hispanic people make up just 9% of the local population and Black people make up 10.6%. … Black and Hispanic patients accounted for more than half – 53% – of all COVID-19 deaths.

Those who buy guns as the pandemic rages are more likely to be suicidal than those who already own firearms, a new study finds. In fact, among people who bought guns during the pandemic, about 70% reported having suicidal thoughts, while just 37% of other gun owners had such thoughts, researchers found. "People who were motivated to purchase firearms during COVID-19 might have been driven by anxiety that leaves them vulnerable to suicidal ideation," said researcher Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health in Piscataway, N.J.

A U.S. travel group said on Tuesday that travel spending is expected to fall by more than $500 billion in 2020 and is not expected to recover to pre-coronavirus levels until 2024 The U.S. Travel Association projects spending in 2019 will be $617 billion, down from its July forecast of $622 billion, compared with $1.13 trillion in 2019. The decline reflects the dramatic falloff in business travel. The group said the industry has lost nearly 40%, or 3.5 million, of all direct travel jobs and warned another 1 million jobs could be lost without additional government relief by year-end.

Canadians’ exhaustion with pandemic restrictions is now coinciding with an outbreak that threatens to overwhelm health systems in several provinces. Canada has recorded over 302,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths during the pandemic. Nationally, there were 1,114 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Nov. 3, well below a spring peak of 2,701 but double what they were a month ago. At this pace, Canada’s daily case tally may more than double by early December, health officials warned last week.

It’s truly the greatest gift of all: a $1m donation by Dolly Parton to coronavirus vaccine research supported the development of the Moderna vaccine, which shows 95% protection from the virus. In April, Parton donated £800,000 to research after her friend Dr Naji Abumrad of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee told her that they were making “some exciting advancements” in the search for a cure for the virus.

As of last Thursday, a total of 1,039,464 young people, including infants and teens, had tested positive for the coronavirus. The weekly report on pediatric cases is a collaboration between the AAP and the Children's Hospital Association, and uses state health department data to track pediatric cases nationwide. … Last week alone, nearly 112,000 children were diagnosed.

From California to Pennsylvania, governors and mayors across the U.S. are ratcheting up COVID-19 restrictions amid the record-shattering resurgence of the virus that is all but certain to get worse because of holiday travel and family gatherings over Thanksgiving. Leaders are closing businesses or curtailing hours and other operations, and they are ordering or imploring people to stay home and keep their distance from others to help stem a rising tide of infections that threatens to overwhelm the health care system. “I must again pull back the reins,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday as he restricted indoor gatherings to 10 people, down from 25. “It gives me no joy.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is pulling the “emergency brake” on efforts to reopen the economy, saying the state is experiencing the fastest growth in cases yet, and if left unchecked, it will lead to “catastrophic outcomes.”

President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday “more people may die” if outgoing President Donald Trump continues blocking a U.S. transition of power as the coronavirus pandemic worsens, and he urged Congress to pass new relief legislation. Biden said business and labor leaders had signaled willingness to work together to bolster the pandemic-battered U.S. economy but stressed COVID-19 first must be brought under control.