October 14 coronavirus news

Coronavirus precautions will result in a very different kind of Thanksgiving for many people this year, himself included, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday. 

“It is unfortunate, because that’s such a sacred part of the American tradition, the family gathering around Thanksgiving, but that is a risk,” Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, told CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that given the current spread of Covid-19 and the uptick in infections, people need to be very careful about social gatherings, especially older people and those with underlying conditions.

He added that travel on planes and public transportation could increase exposure to the virus. 

“My Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year,” Fauci noted.

He said he would love to spend the holiday with his children, but they would have to travel from out of state to come home.

“They themselves, because of their concern for me and my age, have decided they're not going to come home for Thanksgiving, even though all three of them want very much to come home for Thanksgiving,” Fauci said.

The Beverly Hills City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to prohibit trick-or-treating this year, citing concerns over Covid-19.

According to an ordinance approved by the city council, Halloween activities including trick-or-treating and “spraying shaving cream on others” is prohibited this year. In addition, several high volume trick-or-treating streets will be closed to outside pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the night of Oct. 31. Violators of the law could be fined, the city said in a news release.

Some context: The news came the same day the state of California released its recommendations for Halloween festivities, noting that in-person trick-or-treating and related activities “pose a high risk of spreading Covid-19,” but was not explicitly banned. Likewise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies traditional trick-or-treating as a ‘”higher risk” activity.

In September, Los Angeles County had initially banned trick-or-treating, but after public outcry, downgraded it the following day to simply “not recommended.”

The decision places Beverly Hills among the first cities in the nation to prohibit in-person Halloween activities. 

“This is a fairly small price to pay to keep this trajectory down, keep the schools open,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman.

Brazil's health ministry reported 749 coronavirus-related fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 151,747.  

The health ministry also reported 27,235 new cases from Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 5,140,863. 

Brazil has the world's second highest death toll after the US and the world's third highest coronavirus cases after the US and India, according to the data held by the Johns Hopkins University. 

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna on Wednesday pushed back against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's dismal of his call for her to make a deal on a stimulus bill.

"To paraphrase Lin-Manuel Miranda, I'm probably not in the room where it matters, but I do have a constituency I represent," Khanna told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "In my affluent district, the food banks are longer than they have ever been."

On Tuesday, Pelosi spoke to Blitzer about the Trump administration's more recent relief proposal and in that interview dismissed some of her colleagues' call for her to compromise on a stimulus bill.

While the two men are "lovely," Pelosi said, "they know nothing about" the specifics of the White House's proposals and "they are not negotiating this situation — they have no idea of the particulars, they have no idea of what the language is here."

Khanna, who represents California's 17th congressional district, said he had a "moral obligation" to speak out for his constituents.

Khanna told Blitzer that he would not except the White House's most recent stimulus proposal.

"I have no doubt that if it's around 1.9 trillion, if there are a few edits. I think we need a national testing plan. There have to be a couple of more provisions, but no doubt the parties are close and that a deal can be made and that would have the votes in the House. And then put the ball in McConnell's court."

Nick Saban, the famed head football coach at the University of Alabama, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement he released.

A Covid-19 vaccine may be widely available by April 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with CBS News Wednesday.

Fauci said researchers should know by “November or December” whether some vaccines trials have a safe candidate and that even in the event that a safe candidate is determined, initial quantities will likely only be a few million doses. 

Pushing back against an assertion made by the President that the US can expect 100 million doses by year’s end, Fauci said that the 100 million number is only possible if every vaccine candidate currently in trials is determined to be safe and effective. Even in the event that every tested vaccine is determined to be safe, the timeline for widespread vaccine administration would be toward the end of the first quarter of 2021, Fauci said.

Fauci said that the recent pause in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine trial should be a “good indication” that vaccine trials are working as they are intended to and protecting people’s safety. The trial was paused this week because of a possible adverse reaction in a volunteer.

“When that happens, we jump all over that,” Fauci said.

Fauci also discussed precautions needed as the United States heads into fall with increasing case numbers, telling people to “try and keep windows open” and “don’t be afraid to wear a mask in your house if you’re not certain that the persons in the house are negative.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he expects to be tested “on a regular basis” over the next few days after a member of his Executive Security Detail tested positive for Covid-19.

The governor emphasized that he is feeling well, tested negative today, and said that his wife, first lady Maria Lee, will be tested later this afternoon.

Lee, speaking to reporters on a call Wednesday, said both he and his wife were last in contact with the security detail member yesterday. The governor’s security detail is tested for Covid-19 weekly, but the infected member was tested this morning after not feeling well, Lee said. While the source of the infection is currently unknown, contact tracing is underway, the governor said.

Lee said he will be moving his events to take place virtually during his quarantine.

AstraZeneca, whose phase 3 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial has been on hold for more than a month, did not get critical safety data to the US Food and Drug Administration until last week, according to a source familiar with the trial.

The FDA is considering whether to allow AstraZeneca to start its trial back up again after a participant became ill. At issue is whether the illness was a fluke, or if it may have been caused by the vaccine.

The source said the root of the delay is that the participant was in the United Kingdom and the European Medicines Agency and the FDA store data differently. 

But a former FDA commissioner said he didn’t think technology was to blame.

Dr. Robert Califf said he thinks the FDA could be asking for more information, such as test results and details about the participant’s illness before the agency decides whether to allow the trial to continue, as well as about another participant who was sick this summer.

“There’s a lot of judgement involved in these decisions,” said Califf, who was commissioner of the agency from 2016 to 2017.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday the rate of spread of coronavirus in schools is “very minimal."

He reported that there are 18 total active outbreaks and 50 confirmed cases reported in West Virginia’s public school system.

There have been 122 total cases reported among the total 39,074 school staff and service personnel, while there have been 49 Covid-19 cases among roughly 209,000 total students in the public schools system, Justice said.

Justice also reported four more Covid-19-related deaths and 263 new cases, bringing the statewide total to 391 deaths and 18,818 cases. 

The state’s cumulative percent positivity rate stands at 2.81%, and the retransmission rate stands at 0.95, Justice said.