October 1 coronavirus news

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday a new order that allows out-of-state health care workers to practice in the state following "alarming trends" in coronavirus cases.

The governor urged residents to stay home, wear a mask, and practice social distancing.

Secretary-designee Andrea Palm reported 21 new fatalities Thursday in the state, bringing the number of total deaths to at least 1,348.

Palm said 45 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties “meet the threshold of very high activity” for Covid-19 infections.

This means that there are more than 350 cases per 100,000 people. Palm said 41 counties are showing growing trajectory, an indication that cases are on the rise.

Hospitalizations are increasing: ThedaCare president and CEO Dr. Imran Andrabi said his hospital communities are seeing the increases in Covid-19 infection rates and hospitalizations. He said 95% of hospital beds within his system are full at this point and 250 ThedaCare hospital workers did not show up for work Thursday. Andrabi said the workers are getting sick because people are not wearing masks out in the community.

“This is really a responsibility that we all have to take seriously because if some of us do it and others don’t, it doesn’t work,” Andrabi said.

Italy on Thursday reported the highest daily increase in new coronavirus cases since April 24, figures from the country’s health ministry show.

The country recorded at least 2,548 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections to 317,409.

The number of people that have died from coronavirus is at least 35,918 – an additional 24 fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of patients admitted to intensive care has also risen by 11, bringing the total to at least 291.

The US Food and Drug Administration has updated its emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19.

The agency is no longer requiring remdesivir to be distributed through the US government, officials announced during a call with reporters on Thursday.

Starting on Thursday, the biopharmaceutical company Gilead — the maker of remdesivir — will be responsible for the distribution of the drug in the United States.

Gilead said in a news release the company is "now meeting real-time demand" for the drug, sold under the brand name Veklury in the United States.

The release also noted that AmerisourceBergen will continue to serve as the sole US distributor of remdesivir through the end of this year and will sell the product directly to hospitals. It costs about $3,200 for a five-day treatment course.

"We feel very confident in supply ramp up and that's what we've been working through all year," Johanna Mercier, chief commercial officer for Gilead Sciences, said during Thursday's call. 

"By the end of the year we will have more than 2 million treatment courses available," Mercier said. "We feel very confident that, even if there was a surge in the epidemic, that we can manage that."

Loss of smell and taste are a strong sign that someone is infected with Covid-19, according to new research published Thursday. 

People who lose either smell or taste should consider self-isolating, even if they have no other symptoms, researchers in Britain said.

How the study was conducted: The team studied 590 volunteers who experienced a new loss of smell or taste. They tested 567 of them for coronavirus.

Of the 567, 77.6% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. In total, 80.4% of participants reporting smell loss and 77.8% of those reporting taste loss had a positive test result, the team reported in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Nearly 40% of those who tested positive for antibodies had neither a fever nor a cough.

Batterham and her colleagues also found that participants with a loss of smell alone were nearly three times more likely than patients with just a loss of taste to have Covid-19 antibodies, and participants with a combined loss of smell and taste were four times more likely to have antibodies.

“These findings suggest that a loss of smell is a highly specific symptom of Covid-19, in contrast to a loss of taste, despite their comparable frequency,” the researchers wrote.

The study recruited its volunteers between April 23 and May 14, during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in London. It did not include a comparison group of people who did not lose their sense of smell and/or taste.

As the United States continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, a majority of states are showing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week.

According to Johns Hopkins University data:

The US is currently averaging 42,785 new Covid-19 cases a day, which is down 1% from last week. The country continues to lead the world in total cases, with more than 7 million coronavirus cases.

Watch CNN's John King break down the latest figures:

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was questioned Thursday on the President’s decision to hold rallies in Wisconsin Saturday against recommendations from the White House coronavirus task force regarding social distancing.

The Trump campaign told CNN Thursday that “everyone attending will receive a temperature check, be provided a mask they are encouraged to wear and have access to plenty of hand sanitizer.”

The events come as Wisconsin “has continued to see a rapid worsening of the epidemic in the last week,” a September 27 task force report obtained by CNN said. The state has the third highest case rate in the country and has a test positivity rate between 8% and 10%, the seventh highest in the country. 

The task force recommended increased social distancing “to the maximal degree possible.”

“During the intense period of viral surge, large numbers of acutely infected individuals caused exponential growth in infections. Although young adults are the most affected group currently, spread to other age groups is inevitable. To the maximal degree possible, increase social distancing mitigation measures until cases decline, including through supporting local authorities to pass and enforce mitigation measures,” the report said. 

The state also reported a grim new milestone Thursday — 27 people died of Covid-19 Wednesday, according to the state's Covid-19 website. That is the highest death count on record for the state.  

McEnany attacked what she described as “two standards of health in this country: one for Trump supporters and one for everyone else,” railing against social justice protesters.

American and United Airlines are cutting 32,000 jobs after Congress failed to reach a new deal on federal aid plans. Delta has been able to a delay job cuts for now, but CEO Ed Bastian says they may have to furlough 1,900 pilots in the future if Congress doesn’t reach a stimulus deal.

Apart from severely impacting jobs in the aviation industry, the pandemic has also impacted the sense of safety among flyers. Delta has already mandated masks on flights and Bastian says the company is also working on offering its flyers rapid tests.

There is a possibility where Delta may require a flyer to first take a rapid Covid-19 test before boarding, he adds, saying it would largely ensure safety and help passengers avoid quarantines upon arriving at their destination.

Watch:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated Thursday that the House is likely to move forward with a vote on the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus proposal from House Democrats. 

Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are still far apart in talks for a new round of aid, although she said she remains hopeful that a compromise can be found.

“We’re hopeful that we can reach agreement because the needs of the American people are so great,” Pelosi said. “But there has to be a recognition that it takes money to do that, and it takes the right language to make sure it is done right.”

“State and local, we’re still far apart on that," she said, adding, “we are coming closer on money for our health provisions in the bill, it’s just a question of the language.”

Pelosi also said Democrats “have concerns about a sufficient amount of money to address the unemployment needs of the American people.”

During the news conference, Pelosi also emphasized the need for politics to remain separate from the effort to produce a vaccine. 

“What we have to do is have confidence, trust in the vaccine,” Pelosi said. “Let science determine this, and not politics. And then people will have confidence in the product.”

She said she would take a Covid-19 vaccine, even though she doesn’t like needles and takes her flu shot “under great duress” each year.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has approved $150 million of funding to help 92 low-and middle-income countries “jumpstart” their “readiness to deliver Covid-19 vaccines, in the form of planning, technical assistance and cold chain equipment.”

Okonjo-Iweala added that the decision will support, “lower-income countries’ ability to maintain routine immunization programmes and protect against the threat of other infectious diseases.”

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced earlier this week it had so far secured 200 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccines for the world’s poorest countries. 

The vaccines will have a ceiling price of US$1.60 to US$2 per dose for the 92 of the world’s low income countries. 

Through the COVAX facility coordinated by Gavi, 75 countries have formally committed to providing funding to provide at least part of the cost for procuring the vaccine for poorer nations.