Stock losses accelerated on Monday with the Dow dropping more than 800 points or 2.8% following a record surge of new coronavirus cases and languishing stimulus talks in DC.
October 26 coronavirus news
By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Luke McGee and Ed Upright, CNN
Updated 5:50 p.m. ET, October 27, 2020
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Dow drops more than 800 points
North Dakota has a 10.62% positivity rate over the past 14 days
From CNN's Kay Jones
North Dakota is reporting a 14-day rolling positivity rate of 10.62%, according to the state department of health's dashboard.
The state is reporting at least 527 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, with a little over half of the newly reported cases previously testing negative, the dashboard shows. The positivity rate for Monday's report is at 8.28%.
In total, there have been 38,241 positive cases in North Dakota since the pandemic began with a 13.44% overall positivity rate.
The state's health department also says that 256 patients are hospitalized statewide who have tested positive for Covid-19. The dashboard shows that 173 of those due to Covid-19 while the others were admitted for other reasons and tested positive after being hospitalized.
One thing to note: These numbers were released by the state'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.
Florida reports more than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Carma Hassan
Florida health officials are reporting 3,377 new Covid-19 cases and 20 additional deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health (DOH).
To date, Florida has recorded a total of 782,013 Covid-19 cases statewide and 16,652 Floridian deaths, DOH data shows.
A total of 48,281 Floridians have been hospitalized this year because of coronavirus, DOH reports.
One thing to 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.
New research shows decline in non-coronavirus hospitalizations during pandemic
From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas
Two studies released Monday reveal a decline in hospitalizations during the coronavirus pandemic, supporting concerns that people are delaying necessary medical care.
Researchers from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine examined hospital admissions within the NYU Langone Health system comparing the March through May period for 2020, 2019 and 2018. They found a significant decrease in the number of hospitalizations for non-coronavirus conditions such as heart attacks and appendicitis during the peak of the pandemic.
The number of non-Covid hospitalizations dropped to 3,657 in 2020 from 6,411 in 2019 and 5,368 in 2018, they reported in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
The drop in hospitalizations was seen for various conditions, from complications of chronic health conditions to emergencies and injuries.
In a separate study, researchers from Stanford University and Weill Cornell Medical Center found a significant drop in hospitalizations across both systems for heart attacks, strokes, appendicitis and bleeding surrounding the brain during the pandemic.
Their results included a 39% decrease in heart attack cases and 49% decrease in stroke cases at Weill Cornell Medical Center. The researchers note that their findings, in combination with an increasing number of non-coronavirus at-home deaths, reveal a discouraging pattern.
While the researchers note that the results of their respective studies may not be generalizable to the whole population, their findings match previous research showing a decline in hospitalizations across the country since Covid-19 took hold. The concerns they raise are in line with doctors who have been sounding the alarm that deferring care during the pandemic could cost some people their lives.
Multiple factors are likely at play, including loss of income or insurance and changes in patient lifestyle. Many health professionals have suggested that fear of catching Covid-19 has been a driving factor keeping people out of doctors’ offices and emergency rooms at times when they need in-person care.
A Texas children's hospital is now taking non-Covid-19 patients to help overwhelmed medical center
From CNN's Gregory Lemos
As the University Medical Center of El Paso continues to be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients as local cases surge, El Paso Children's Hospital will begin taking non-Covid patients starting Monday hospital officials tell CNN.
"It's a banana sandwich here as I'm sure you've heard," UMC Director of Public Affairs Ryan Mielke told CNN Monday. "We are overwhelmed with patients at this point. However, we have a strong partnership with El Paso Children's hospital."
Mielke said the ninth floor of Children's is open for non-Covid patients from UMC and the transfers have already begun.
Mielke said the hospital has received more than 100 additional medical staff and has set up emergency isolation tents in the hospital parking lots where Covid-19 overflow patients are being sent.
Mielke confirmed hospital staff are becoming infected as well.
“We are not immune by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.
He said that while the hospital is adequately staffed at the moment, they have asked the governor for additional medical personnel, a service the Department of Emergency Management provides.
"The bottom line is the coronavirus is spreading fast and it's spreading fast throughout our city," Mielke said.
Dow drops more than 600 points
Stock losses accelerated on Monday with the Dow dropping more than 600 points or 2% following a record surge of new coronavirus cases and languishing stimulus talks in DC.
New York City positivity rate is at 1.74%, mayor says
From CNN's Julian Cummings
The percent of people who tested positive for Covid-19 city wide is at 1.74%, under the 5% threshold, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The seven-day rolling average is 1.73%, he said.
With regard to new reported cases on a seven-day average, with a threshold of 550 cases, NYC is slightly above the threshold with 551 cases.
The daily number of people admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 is at 75, under the 200 threshold. The confirmed positivity rate for Covid-19 for those patients is 28%.
The positivity rate in New York city public schools is at .15%, according to the mayor.
New York City will begin adding public school testing data on it’s Covid-19 data page.
One thing to note: These numbers were released by the citys 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
The White House "surrendered to the virus" yesterday, Sen. Angus King says
CNN's Aditi Sangal
In response to the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows saying the US is "not going to control" the coronavirus pandemic, Independent Sen. Angus King said that’s “unconditional surrender.”
“Remember, I don't know, five or six months ago, the President said, ‘this is war. I'm a wartime president?’ Yesterday was unconditional surrender,” King, who caucuses with the Democrats, said. “It was basically waving the white flag, saying, ‘we can't control it, there's nothing you can do.’ And that's nonsense. Of course, they can control it.”
He cited the US CDC guidelines on wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing for stopping the spread of the virus, and he blamed the White House for inconsistent messaging.
“If that had been the consistent message from the White House from the beginning, when we knew those were [the things] we had to do, and in the meantime, had they developed a really strong testing program, there would probably be 50 to 100,000 fewer deaths. We would be looking like other countries that are having surges but nothing like what we're having. And like I say, yesterday was the moment that the White House surrendered to the virus."
Cases are surging across the country and nearly 225,000 Americans have died from the virus.
“Maine is a good example of how it can work. Our governor, Janet Mills, was very tough, took a huge amount of flack in terms of how we dealt with the pandemic,” Sen. King added. “Here's the bottom line. And if the Trump folks had figured this out, they’d be in a lot better shape right now… We're closer [getting] back our economy to normal because we did these simple things and our governor, as I say, took a lot of heat but stood up and did it right.”
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Regional solutions can help Midwest control the coronavirus outbreak, Chicago mayor says
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
With coronavirus cases surging across the US, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says regional agreements and solutions could help get the numbers under control.
“The Midwest has consistently been up for now for the last three weeks. So the virus obviously doesn't respect geographic boundaries. Everywhere around Chicago is going up,” she said, citing Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa as examples. “When you see the mobility of people traveling throughout the Midwest for jobs, for schools and so forth, it's not a total surprise but it is absolutely quite distressing and we're trying to do everything that we can. But we have to all be in this together. Meaning as a region, we have to come up with a region-wide agreements and solutions. Otherwise we're never going to be able to see this virus under control.”
There has been an uptick in hospitalizations but not in intensive care unit admissions, she reported.
As part of mitigation measures, businesses in Chicago will now have to shut down by 10 p.m. local time, following a new order that aims to curb the latest surge of Covid-19. However, with these measures in place as well as the winter approaching, Lightfoot says people are starting to gather indoors.
“Don't invite people in that are not part of your immediate family or otherwise essential to be there, like a home care worker or something along those lines. That's where we're really seeing the spread. The case investigations, the contact tracing is pointing to home social settings as the primary area of risk now,” she said.
At the same time, the city is not considering canceling Halloween because “people are going to trick or treat anyway,” she said. Instead, the city has put some rules in place to encourage safety, including limiting the number of children grouping together.
“We're asking no haunted houses, no house parties. We are also really encouraging people not to have hand-to-hand contact with children as they're handing out candy,” she said.
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