October 26 coronavirus news

More than half of the states across the nation have reported their highest single-day of new Covid-19 cases during the month of October, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

So far this month, 27 states reported at least one record high day of new cases over the last few weeks. Here's the list of states:

11 states reported their highest single-day of new deaths during the month of October: Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah & Wisconsin. 

In a letter to the Democratic Caucus, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi cited the White House's resistance to meeting her demands on Covid-19 testing and tracing as a key reason why a stimulus deal has not been reached.

“We must come to agreement as soon as possible. But we cannot accept the Administration’s refusal to crush the virus, honor our heroes or put money in the pockets of the American people," Pelosi wrote. 

The current surge of coronavirus cases is not a second wave because the first wave never ended, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

“I look at it more as an elongated and an exacerbation of the original first wave,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a Yahoo Finance interview.

Fauci noted that the US never reached a low baseline of cases, which he would consider to be around 10,000 per day. Instead, cases have shot up and down throughout the pandemic, ranging from 20,000 to 80,000 per day. 

“We've never really had waves in the sense of up and then down to a good baseline,” he said. “It's been up and wavering up and down, until now we're at the highest baseline we've ever been – which is really quite precarious.”

Pennsylvania's secretary of health warned against small family gatherings during the holidays during a press conference Monday.

During part of the conference where she repeated the state's official guidance to avoid larger gatherings, Dr. Levine added that residents should "maybe also though, avoid smaller gatherings."

Nearly 6% of all hospitalized patients with Covid-19 work in health care and most in that group were nurses, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 4% of health care workers who were hospitalized died.

The CDC-led Covid research team reviewed the charts of nearly 7,000 Covid-19 patients who were in the hospital between March 1 and May 31. 

Most were women. A large proportion were Black. These patients skewed much younger than the general Covid-19 patient population. The median age of a health care professional who was hospitalized was 49, compared to 62 for the country as a whole, the team reported in in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 

Nearly 90% of hospitalized health care professionals with Covid-19 had at least one underlying medical condition. The most common, reported at nearly 73%, was obesity. 

In addition to infection prevention and control efforts, the CDC researchers said there is a need for prevention and management programs to help people control their weight. Obesity significantly increases the risk for severe Covid-19 illness.

This research is in keeping with earlier studies. Research in China also found that people in nursing-related occupations accounted for the most cases among the health care profession.

Nurses may be most at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus because they have extended cumulative exposure time. Nurses have the most close and frequent contact with sick patients. 

New Mexico has reported record numbers of people hospitalized for Covid-19 for three days in a row, state data shows.

On Friday, the state reported it had 229 people hospitalized for Covid-19, surpassing the previous record high of 223 set on May 15. 

Since then, the number has only climbed. The state reported 264 hospitalizations on Saturday and 287 hospitalizations yesterday, state data shows. 

The state’s dashboard does not specify how these numbers relate to the state’s overall hospital capacity.

New Mexico is currently reporting a total of 41,863 cases of Covid-19 and 967 deaths from the virus.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by New Mexico’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.

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.

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 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.