October 27 coronavirus news

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said giving up on control of the coronavirus is dangerous and called for an end to the politicization of Covid-19 at a news briefing in Geneva on Monday.

“Science continues to tell us the truth about this virus, how to contain it, suppress it and stop it from returning and how to save lives among those it reaches,” Tedros said.  

Many countries and cities have followed the science, he said, and been able to suppress the virus and minimize deaths. "Quick and deliberate leadership helps to suppress it,” he said.  

On Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN the US is "not going to control" the coronavirus pandemic. “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas," Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."  

Tedros said countries can do both and pointed out that many European nations have done so.

“We should not give up and that’s why we are saying -- although we agree with the Chief of Staff that ... protecting the vulnerable is important,” Tedros said.

“But giving up on control is dangerous and control should also be part of the strategy,” Tedros added. Governments and citizens should both do their share, otherwise “this virus is dangerous. If it’s let go freely, it can create havoc,” he said. 

This is especially the case when there isn’t a vaccine or therapeutics at hand, Tedros said.

The United States reported 66,784 new Covid-19 cases and 477 deaths on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

There are now at least 8,702,750 reported Covid-19 infections and at least 225,706 people have died from the virus in the country.

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

The US is reporting the most number of cases the country has seen to date. The seven-day average of daily new cases reached an all-time high of 68,767 on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The previous record of 67,293 was set July 22.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Monday that the country is facing another cycle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it may be the hardest yet.

"I think we're right now at the cusp of what's going to be exponential spread in parts of the country," Gottlieb said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Read more on the US' coronavirus surge:

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US hits highest 7-day average of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began

It's E-7 to the Covid election. There are staggering numbers to report on both American voters and American Covid patients as the country hurtles toward an election and into a Covid surge.

Covid infections, 7-day average: 68,767. It's the most infections the US has ever had in that time period. Full stats.

Frightening state-specific Covid stories: 

Utah ICUs may have to ration care.

In El Paso, they're moving Covid patients to a children's hospital after calling for additional refrigeration at morgues.

The spike in infections is not from testing -- Trump continues to say (like he did in Pennsylvania today) the spike is because of increased testing. That's either a lie or ignorance. How could it be ignorance at this point? CNN's fact check here.

Stunning admission -- White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said on CNN's State of the Union the White House isn't even trying to contain Covid at this point. They're just waiting for a vaccine. Watch it.

Mandate masks - First Dr. Anthony Fauci over the weekend and now former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb have called for more consideration of a national mask mandate. 

Vaccine timeline -- Expect a vaccine in December, but no wide availability 'til next spring. That's been a pretty consistent guess from experts.

Political timeline -- Reminder: President Donald Trump will be in office for more than two months after Election Day so, regardless of what voters choose, there's unlikely to be forceful Covid leadership at the national level during this fall surge.

So will it be a mandate for masks or a mandate against requiring them? We'll see.

Read the full analysis:

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Analysis: The feared pre-election Covid surge is here

The premier of Australia's Victoria state is calling on residents to remain vigilant as the state eases coronavirus restrictions.

Victoria reported no new Covid-19 cases and deaths for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

"It's based on where we've come from and where we are now, and the fact that there's always more virus out there than you know. Because not everybody gets tested. And not everybody who does get tested gets tested as quickly as they should," Andrews added.

Tuesday is the first time since March 5 and 6 that the state has reported no new cases for two days in a row, the premier said.

"Masks are an important part of this now. They won't be there forever. They are uncomfortable. It's not a permanent setting, but it will be there for so long as the health team are really clear with us that this does play a role," Andrews said.

People in Melbourne will be allowed to leave their homes but will be restricted to a 25 kilometer (15 mile) limit and only visiting other households once per day.

Two adults can visit another home with children as dependents, Andrews added.

People are going to have to wear masks until vaccines are widely available -- which means well into next year at the very least, Dr. Anthony Fauci and two top staffers argued Monday.

And people who whip off their masks to speak in public are missing the point, Dr. Andrea Lerner, a clinical associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, along with Fauci’s chief of Staff Greg Folkers, wrote in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

They spoke out on defense of cloth masks -- recently attacked by Sen. Rand Paul -- and said taking tests regularly is not enough to absolve people of the need to wear a mask.

Masks block large particles that blast out of people’s mouths and noses.

And with winter coming, people will have to wear masks even more, they said.

“Recent evidence suggests that up to 40% to 45% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 may never be symptomatic but still can transmit the virus,” they added. “Viral spread from people without symptoms may account for more than 50% of transmission events in COVID-19 outbreak.”

Testing can help but is not enough to prove someone is free of infection. “No test is perfect; all have a lower limit of detection for viral material and the potential for false negatives. In addition, the result of a test represents just one point in time and does not indicate an individual’s status outside of the moment the specimen was collected,” they noted.

And cloth masks can work just fine. “Surgical masks can reduce respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath, and the filtering efficacy of some materials used in cloth masks may approach that of surgical masks,” they noted.

A study of hundreds of thousands of people across England suggests immunity to the coronavirus is gradually wearing off -- at least according to one measure.

Researchers who sent out home finger-prick tests to more than 365,000 randomly selected people in England found a more than 26% decline in Covid-19 antibodies over just three months.

The study was published Monday by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI, a market research company. At the beginning of the study, in June, 6% of those who took the tests had IgG antibody responses to the coronavirus, they reported. By September, just 4.4% of them did. For health care workers, the rates stayed about the same.

Antibodies are the proteins your body naturally generates to fight infection. IgG are one type -- the tests were not designed to detect other types of antibodies. Other research teams have found that other types of antibodies may persist longer than IgG does.

The results also confirm earlier studies that showed that people who did not have symptoms of Covid-19 are likely to lose detectable antibodies sooner rather than those who had more severe infections.

Read the full story:

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British study shows evidence of waning immunity to Covid-19

Australia's Victoria state reported no new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours for the second consecutive day, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a tweet Tuesday.

Monday was the first time since June 8 that Victoria has reported no new cases, statistics from the DHHS have shown. The total number of Covid-19 cases in Victoria remains at 20,343, and the total death toll at 817.

The remarkable milestone of no new cases comes just months after Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews declared a "state of disaster" to stem an outbreak that saw as many as 725 people in the state test positive for the virus in a single day.

The steep decline in cases has allowed the government to lift major social distancing measures that have been in place for weeks, including moving the state capital, Melbourne, out of lockdown beginning Wednesday.

The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting three Covid-19 outbreaks related to Trump campaign events held in the state in September.

At least 23 cases have been traced to outbreaks occurring at rally events in Bemidji on September 18, a speech held by Vice President Mike Pence on September 24 in Minneapolis, and another rally held by President Donald Trump on September 30 in Duluth, the department said in an email to CNN.

Read the full story:

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Minnesota reports three Covid-19 outbreaks related to Trump campaign events in September

The United States is facing another cycle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it may be the hardest yet, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Monday.

Worst number of cases yet: That's as the country continues to report the most number of cases we've seen to date. The seven-day average of daily new cases reached an all-time high of 68,767 on Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The previous record of 67,293 was set July 22.

"Unfortunately, I think the statement about 'new record' is going to be repeated over and over again in the days and weeks to come," said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

"I expect that those numbers will continue to climb. Hospitalizations are going to continue to climb."

Read the full story:

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US hits highest 7-day average of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began