November 30 coronavirus news

The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 topped 5,000 in Ohio for the first time Monday. The state's Department of Health says there are 5,060 coronavirus patients in the hospital, with 1,180 in intensive care. 

Ohio officials say 71% of all hospital beds are occupied, and 76% of intensive care unit beds. The state has averaged nearly 8,000 new cases per day over the past three weeks. The seven-day rolling average for Covid-19 tests coming back positive is 14.5%, nearly three times the figure recommended by the World Health Organization for reopening the economy.

Even Monday’s alarming numbers may not be telling the full story. The state says thousands of reports are still pending review due to “unprecedented volume.”

Note: These numbers were released by the Ohio Department of Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on not issuing a statewide mask mandate in the Sunshine State Monday during a press conference.

When a reporter asked DeSantis if he had reconsidered a statewide mask mandate, the governor got testy with the reporter and answered with a series of his own questions.

As Covid-19 cases in Florida are inching closer to the one million mark, DeSantis touted that the increase in cases in other states are “way, way more.” DeSantis said that shutting down has not worked to stop the spread of the virus in other places.

The New England Patriots were fined $350,000 by the NFL for violations of the league’s Covid-19 protocols in early October. A league source confirmed the fine to CNN Sports. 

The fine comes after the NFL determined that the Patriots violated the league’s policy that all team personnel must wear masks while at team facilities. 

After the team’s quarterback Cam Newton tested positive for Covid-19 on October 2, the NFL postponed the Patriots’ game against the Kansas City Chiefs from October 4 to October 5.

The NFL's San Francisco 49ers will play their next two home games in Arizona. The team was forced to find an alternative site after Santa Clara County, California, banned contact sports for the next three weeks.

The 49ers are now set to host the Buffalo Bills next Monday night at the Arizona Cardinals’ home ground, State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The team will utilize the stadium again the following Sunday to play the Washington Football Team on Dec. 13. 

The 49ers will play three of their next four games at State Farm Stadium as the team was previously scheduled to play the Cardinals in Glendale the day after Christmas. 

The team has yet to announce plans on where it will hold practices. 

Some background: The restrictive measures was prompted by an “exponential” growth in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the county, according to County Counsel James Williams.

Other measures include modifying capacity for businesses, limiting social gatherings.

"The 49ers are, I think, the most nationally obvious example, but there is no family in our community that is untouched by this pandemic,” Williams told CNN on Monday, noting that the pandemic has complicated everyone’s lives and communities. Hospitalizations have doubled in the last 14 days, he said, and capacity is a priority. 

“Our ICU beds are filling up, hospitals are filling up, we are trying to take every possible measure locally to rein that in,” said Williams.

As Rhode Island hospitals reach capacity due to Covid-19, the state has assembled two field hospitals, according to the Governor’s Press Secretary Audrey Lucas. One of those field hospitals will begin receiving patients Monday afternoon.

The state sent a Public Safety Alert to residents who own a smartphone Monday, informing them the state’s hospitals are “at capacity due to COVID” and urged people to work from home and stay home whenever possible, according to a copy of the mobile alert provided by the governor's office.

The other field hospital is also ready to accept patients and “may do so as soon as this week,” Lucas said.

The alert came in as the state commenced its two-week pause period, which will last through December 13, according to the state’s official reopening website.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo mentioned last Wednesday the possibility of hospitals reaching capacity by the end of the year, which she said would lead to patients being turned away for otherwise essential services.

West Virginia officials told hospitals on Monday to prepare to postpone elective surgeries as the state’s coronavirus numbers surge.

Hospital capacity is being strained as a higher percentage of Covid-19 tests are coming back positive.

Gov. Jim Justice said “7.07% is the highest daily percentage it has been since the end of April."

West Virginia has confirmed at least 47,842 coronavirus cases, and approximately 735 deaths.

Despite very positive news on a Covid-19 vaccine, West Virginia’s Covid-19 czar says he’s concerned that the surge is far from over.

“Perhaps the worst days are ahead of us,” Dr. Clay Marsh said.

In addition to using hospitalizations as a main metric to trigger zone designations and closures, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also outlined four additional strategies the state will employ to combat the spread of Covid-19.

They are:

On schools, Cuomo said that the goal was to keep grades K-8 open wherever it was safe. The state will implement testing on a weekly basis for schools in orange and red zones.

On the vaccine, Cuomo said that delivery could start in the next few weeks, and that he is working with fellow governors on distribution plans, but noting that widespread distribution will likely not occur until "late spring or early summer."

He noted that the state will do outreach to black and brown communities, as well as lower income communities.

On testing, Cuomo emphasized the importance of having a balanced distribution of testing among various groups — healthcare workers, school workers, the general traveling population.

Statewide, New York has a 4.5% positivity rate currently, Cuomo said.

For the third consecutive week, Florida State’s football team will not take the field. 

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced Monday that the scheduled game between Florida State and Duke will not be played on Saturday, and instead the conference has scheduled a new game between Duke and Miami for that date.  

Miami’s previously scheduled December 5 game against Wake Forest was postponed over the weekend by the ACC due to Covid-19 issues within the Wake Forest football program.

Florida State’s Nov. 21 game against Clemson was previously postponed, as was the team’s Nov. 28 game against Virginia.

There’s been some more promising news on the vaccine front.

This morning, Moderna announced it will become the second pharmaceutical company to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine.

Earlier this month, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted their coronavirus vaccine candidate to the FDA.

If either submission is approved, Covid-19 vaccines could be available within the US before the end of the year.

However, despite the good news, there are still many questions that need to be answered and many logistics that will need to be worked out.

While the experts meet to answer those questions, we want to hear what's on your mind.

Would you take a Covid-19 vaccine once it becomes available? If not, why not? Leave your vaccine questions here and we will try to find you some answers.