October 7 coronavirus news

Trials by jury will be allowed to resume in Georgia, according to a release from the Supreme Court of Georgia. 

The state halted all jury trials five months ago due to the pandemic.  

“We have put into place rigorous safety protocols for grand jury proceedings and jury trials because we understand that the public must have confidence to come and serve on juries. It is paramount to all our judges that our citizens realize that their safety has been thoroughly considered,” Chief Justice Harold D. Melton said in a news release from the court.   

The chief justice intends to issue the order Saturday that will allow courts to resume jury trials, according to the release.  The order will require courts to follow safety guidelines.

While the court will allow trials to resume, they will not actually start right away since potential jurors will need to be summoned. In September, the Georgia Supreme Court allowed local courts to resume grand jury proceedings as longs as they could be "done safely and in compliance with public health guidance based on local conditions," the chief justice said at the time. 

Georgia is home to more than 10 million people, according to the US Census. More than 7,000 have died and nearly 325,000 have been infected with Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

Wisconsin set a record for the number of new Covid-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday, with 141 patients, Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-Designee Andrea Palmer said during a news conference. 

The state reported a total of 2,319 new cases of Covid-19 and 16 additional deaths, Palmer said. 

Fifty five of the 72 counties in the state meet the threshold of "very high disease activity level," an increase of 10 counties last week, Palmer said. The rest of the counties are at a high disease activity level. 

"Wisconsin as a whole is also at a very high disease activity level," Palmer added. 

The state has reported a total of 138,698 coronavirus cases to date and 1,415 total deaths. 

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

A staff member in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, according to a statement released by his office. This person had not interacted with Newsom or with staff that surrounds him on a regular basis.

Newsom has been tested on multiple occasions and the results have been negative, he said in a press conference Wednesday. The last time Newsom was tested was in mid-September when President Trump visited the state as wildfires raged. Newsom said earlier in the week that he “would have the responsibility, and you would have the right to know" should he test positive for the virus. “That would be forthcoming,” he said.

A second state employee at a different state agency who shares workspace with some members of the governor’s office also tested positive.

“In this instance as well, the individual had not interacted with the Governor or staff that routinely interacts with the Governor. Their employer has initiated the state’s COVID-19 protocols for state agencies as well,” the statement reads. 

Both individuals work in the broader governor’s office at the Capitol, Newsom said in a press conference Wednesday. Newsom’s office declined to disclose the exact office location, citing privacy laws. 

Contact tracing is currently underway.

Canada's public health officials are warning people to stay home as much as possible saying the next few weeks will be "critical" to the country’s efforts to contain the virus.  

Public Health Agency of Canada says national daily case counts continue to increase steeply with an average of about two thousand new cases every day for the past week. Government statistics indicate that’s a 40% rise in the last week alone. 

Hospitalizations and deaths continue to creep upward as well with more than 600 Covid-19 patients currently in hospitals, and an average of about 18 deaths reported daily. 

More than 80% of new infections are from Ontario and Quebec with 60% of cases detected in people under 40.

The province of Quebec is of particular concern with urban hotspots in Montreal and Quebec City. Dine-in restaurants and bars were closed in those cities last week as new daily cases continue to climb. 

Quebec reported 1,364 new cases of the virus on Tuesday alone, the highest daily case total since the pandemic began. That prompted a blunt warning to young people in Quebec to take the virus seriously and stay home. 

More on this: Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Canadians to stay home even for the Thanksgiving holiday next week, saying if Canada can once again flatten the curve that the country can "turn things around for Christmas." 

“We are going in the wrong direction now, which is why it is so important for Canadians to do what is necessary, to wear a mask, to keep your distance, to understand that each of us has the power to end this by the choices we make,” said Trudeau during a press conference Monday. 

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced that he tested negative for Covid-19, according to a statement posted on Twitter today.

A staffer who works in the Nevada governor’s office at the capitol in Carson City tested positive on Tuesday. The governor’s office did not name the worker, but noted that they had not been in close contact with Sisolak in weeks.

Sisolak said he was tested "out of an abundance of caution" and that his office continues "to wish our team member a full and quick recovery."

Today's statement noted that Sisolak is scheduled to return to Carson City next week but "travel is on hold for the time being."

The statement added that "the contact tracing effort is underway" and that all the staff who came into contact with the confirmed positive team member "transitioned to work from home status on Monday."

The National Football League and Players Association announced Wednesday that 11 NFL players and 15 staff members tested positive for Covid-19 for the week ending Oct. 3.

Since Aug. 1, the league has reported that out of 370,000 tests administered through Oct. 3, 84 people have resulted positive – that include 31 players and 53 other personnel.  

While appearing on the NFL Network on Wednesday, the NFL’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, was asked about the possibility of the league pausing the season since Covid-19 cases have already forced games to be postponed and team facilities to close.

So far, the NFL has postponed two games this season due to positive Covid-19 tests. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tested positive for Covid-19, Grandi said in a post to Twitter from Geneva on Thursday.

"I am engaging with UNHCR's Executive Committee from home as I have to isolate after testing positive to COVID19," Grandi said in the tweet. 

"I only have mild symptoms and hope to recover soon," Grandi added.

Here's his tweet:

There have been at least 7,519,846 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 211,343 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the country.

So far today, Johns Hopkins has reported 20,505 new cases and 457 reported deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Lebanon reported 1,459 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number of infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.

The latest number of recorded cases brings the country's total case count to 48,377. 

There were also nine new deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the national death toll to 433, the ministry says.

Lebanon has recently witnessed a surge of Covid-19 cases. This comes as the country is suffering from an economic collapse and dealing with the aftermath of the port blast on August 4th, that ripped through the capital killing nearly 200 people, wounding around 6,000 people and displacing about 300,000 people.