October 23 coronavirus news

As the number of active Covid-19 cases in Tennessee continue to rise, hospitals in metro Nashville are reporting a 40% increase in patients admitted for the virus.

In a joint news release, Vanderbilt Health, Ascension St. Thomas, Tristar Health and Meharry Medical College say new cases of coronavirus have increased by 50% over the last two weeks.

Over the same two-week period, hospitals in the Nashville area have experienced a 40% increase in patients admitted for Covid-19, the release stated. 

Hospital officials say a major surge of new Covid-19 cases could threaten their ability to serve patients with many diagnoses requiring hospitalization.

Officials caution that the surge in cases along with the annual flu season would add more strain, potentially overwhelming hospitals. They are strongly urging residents to wear masks, wash hands, and stay socially distant. 

"We must do everything we can to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed and safeguard the reopening of our economy," Vanderbilt University Medical Center said in the release.

On Friday, Metro Nashville Health Department recorded 32,722 Covid-19 cases. The statewide total as of Thursday was 237,907, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. 

The famed football game between Army and Navy has been moved from Philadelphia to West Point, home of the United States Military Academy in New York.

The 121st edition will still be played on Dec. 12. Attendance limits within the state of Pennsylvania was the reason given for the move.

Both academies are planning on allowing the entire Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets to attend the annual “America’s Game.” 

This will be the first Army-Navy football game played on a home campus since the early 1940s, when the two schools hosted consecutive years during World War II.

Navy leads the all-time series with 61 wins, 52 loses, seven ties. Army has won three of the last four games.

French first lady Brigitte Macron has tested negative after a potential coronavirus exposure, the Elysée told CNN on Friday. She will resume her activities. 

On Monday, the French first lady was identified as a contact of someone who tested positive for coronavirus and she began self-isolating. 

This did not change President Emmanuel Macron’s schedule, the Elysée said. He was not in close contact with the person who later tested positive.

Italy reported another record high with 19,143 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Italian health ministry on Friday. That's up from Thursday's record of 16,079 new coronavirus cases.

Italy also reported 91 coronavirus deaths on Friday.

The governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, has asked the government for a national lockdown and has announced he will close the region “for 30 to 40 days” to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“Said in a brutally clear way, I don’t want to find ourselves in front of military trucks that carry hundreds of coffins,” De Luca said in a video message.

The governor of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, said it is a “dramatic situation.”

One hundred scientists have written an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte asking for “drastic measures” to be taken in the next two to three days.

The Florida Department of Health is reporting 3,689 additional coronavirus cases on Friday and 73 new deaths.

To date, Florida has recorded a total of 771,780 Covid-19 cases statewide and 16,543 deaths, according to data released by the health department. 

On Thursday, the state recorded more than 5,500 cases, its highest single-daily increase in more than two months.

Note: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

If 95% of Americans wore masks in public, more than 100,000 lives could be saved from Covid-19 through February, a new modeling study suggests.

The study – from the Covid-19 forecasting team at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – notes that, as of Sept. 21, only about 49% of US residents reported that they "always" wear a mask in public.

If mask-wearing remains 49% through February and states continue with removing social distancing mandates, the Covid-19 death toll across the United States could reach about 1 million deaths by Feb. 28, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine on Friday. 

Yet, under the assumption that states shut down when their daily death rate exceeds eight deaths per 1 million people in the population but mask-wearing doesn't change, the study's model projections forecast the death toll could reach 511,373 deaths by Feb. 28.

The scenario that 95% of people in each state wear masks – in addition to states reinstating social distancing mandates if their daily death rates exceed eight deaths per 1 million people – resulted in the lowest death toll projection, with 381,798 deaths by Feb. 28, according to the study.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in the United States from Feb. 1 through Sept. 21. That analysis – along with other factors, such as pneumonia seasonality, testing rates and mask use – helped inform model projections for the course of the pandemic through Feb. 28.

The study had some limitations, including that the findings are only forecast projections from models and not definitive of what the future holds.

IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray emphasized during a virtual news briefing on Friday that the institute's weekly modeling projections provide more updated data than what is provided in the study. However, the study still helps offer insight into how mask-wearing can make a difference.

As of Thursday, the federal government has delivered more than 110 million cloth masks to states and territories to help reopen schools, an official from the US Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

The masks are part of an initiative announced in August to provide 125 million reusable cloth masks for public and private school students, teachers and staff. Distribution was to be focused on low-income students and schools reopening for in-person learning, said Jonathan Hayes, a senior adviser at HHS, during a briefing with reporters on Friday. 

The 125 million masks were split evenly among youth- and adult-sized masks; all of the adult-sized masks have been delivered to states and 77% of the youth-sized masks. State officials were to handle distribution of masks to schools.

“As a reminder, we all need to continue to follow the three Ws – wash your hands, wear a mask and watch your distance,” Hayes said.

Uruguay's borders will be closed over the county's summer season as part of an effort to halt the spread of Covid-19, President Luis Lacalle Pou announced during a news conference on Thursday. 

The summer season in Uruguay begins in December and ends in March.

The president also said in-person classes in the city of Rivera will be suspended for 15 days. 

"Because today there are many cases, or several cases, in the education [sector], we have decided to suspend face-to-face classes for two weeks," he said. 

Additionally, the president said public safety measures will be enforced, and urged the public to avoid large gatherings and parties. "We will be very strict when it comes to the topic of parties," he said. 

"If Uruguay is almost at the fullness of its freedoms in meetings, economy, in the workplace and culture, it is because there has been a responsible freedom. We give in, it gets complicated, and now there is a global and regional push," he added. 

Uruguay reported at least 2,701 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 53 deaths as of Friday morning.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that household gatherings have become a “major vector” of coronavirus spread.  

At last night’s debate, President Trump again said the US is “rounding the turn” in the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday was the highest day for new infections since late July.

Azar said the President is “trying to give people hope” while acknowledging “we are in a very serious moment.” 

Azar was pressed if the administration could take a more aggressive approach to the virus and why Trump continues to hold rallies without social distancing.

“In public health, we focus on mitigation fatigue,” Azar said. “… When you look back, we actually hit that curve at just about the right point to achieve the core strategic objective, which was to flatten and delay that curve. … We're seeing the impacts here and in Europe from mitigation fatigue.”