December 1 coronavirus news

Los Angeles County reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic, with 7,593 new cases and 2,316 hospitalizations, according to a news release from the L.A. County Department of Public Health on Tuesday.

"Today, Tuesday, December 1, 2020, is the worst day thus far of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles County,” the county's Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said in the release. “However, it will likely not remain the worst day of the pandemic in Los Angeles County. That will be tomorrow, and the next day and the next as cases, hospitalizations and deaths increase.” 

The number of new Covid-19 cases reported Tuesday easily surpassed the previous high of 6,124 new cases seen last week, signaling “that the virus is infecting more people at a faster rate than ever seen in L.A. County before,” the health department said.

The daily test positivity rate has nearly doubled to 12% from 7% one week ago and the number of hospitalizations has increased nearly every day since November when the number of hospitalizations was about 799, the release adds. With 2,316 hospitalizations, “this exceeds the peak of 2,232 people hospitalized with Covid-19 during the July surge.”

The public health department is urging all residents to stay home as much as possible. The county also issued a modified stay at home order that went into effect on Monday. Outdoor dining and gatherings with people outside a single household are prohibited under the new order. 

Since the end of August, the public health department issued a total of 352 citations to non-compliant businesses, according to the release.

To date, Los Angeles County has reported a total of 408,396 coronavirus cases and 7,700 deaths.

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet again after their counterparts at the US Food and Drug Administration decide whether to recommend authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, likely next week.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices voted Tuesday to recommend that if and when a vaccine gets emergency use authorization from the FDA, it should go first to both health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

The next meeting will come after the FDA’s advisers, known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee or VRBPAC, meet on Dec. 10 to decide on Pfizer’s application for an EUA, said ACIP’s executive secretary, Dr. Amanda Cohn.

“We anticipate that the next ACIP meeting will occur sometime after the VRPBAC meeting,” Cohn said. ACIP will vote to recommend whether any vaccine the FDA authorizes should actually be given to anyone in the US.

Texas reported Tuesday a record 15,182 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,184,250, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard. 

The state also reported 170 new Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 21,549.

There are currently 9,047 Covid-19 patients in Texas hospitals. 

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

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 13-1 on Tuesday to recommend that both health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be first in line for any coronavirus vaccines that get emergency authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.

The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices voted to include both groups in what they’re calling Phase 1a of the CDC’s coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. 

“Long-term care facility residents are defined as adults who reside in facilities that provide a variety of services, including medical and personal care, to persons who are unable to live independently,” the CDC said.

“Health care personnel are defined as paid and unpaid persons serving in health care settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure or infectious materials."

The CDC says long-term care facility residents account for 6% of coronavirus cases and 40% of coronavirus deaths in the US. More than 240,000 health care workers have been infected with coronavirus and 858 have died, the CDC says.

The single vote against the recommendation came from Dr. Helen Talbot of Vanderbilt University, who said she was worried that the vaccine had not been studied in residents of long-term care facilities. 

“We hope it works and we hope it’s safe. That concerns me on many levels,” Talbot told the meeting. 

But Dr. Jose Romero, who chairs ACIP, said he believed these residents are at exceptional risk.

The US Center for Disease Control And Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is about to begin voting on recommendations about who should get a coronavirus vaccine first.

Just one day after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont expressed cautious hope that the state’s Covid-19 positivity rate might be declining, new data released by the state instead showed that Connecticut’s daily positivity rate jumped to 5.88% on Tuesday. 

The state previously reported a positivity rate of 4.4% on Monday and had averaged a rate of 4.7% over the previous week, state data shows.

Rising cases in the state brought Connecticut’s overall case count to 118,754, with 1,459 new cases reported on Tuesday. With an additional 20 deaths announced Tuesday, the state has now lost 5,040 residents to Covid-19. 

Hospitalizations also continue to rise in Connecticut, with an additional 54 people admitted on Tuesday, with 1,152 people hospitalized overall, new data from the state shows.

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

December started out strong with a stock market rally. 

Wall Street finished higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both logging fresh all-time highs, surpassing their records from last week. 

Investors are optimistic that there will be additional government stimulus before the end of the year, and are hopeful that the near-term distribution of a vaccine will help the economic recovery.

Here's how things closed on Tuesday:

Oklahoma is nearing 200,000 total Covid-19 cases, according to state data.

The state is reporting at least 199,492 cases of Covid-19, up 1,737 from Monday's report. There are also 15 new deaths being reported today, bringing the total to 1,758.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health shows that at least 1,718 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus. The dashboard shows that the state currently has 57 ICU beds available. 

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.

Michigan recorded 10,428 new Covid-19 cases and 98 new deaths Sunday and Monday, according to the state Covid-19 dashboard. 

The average number of new confirmed cases was 5,214 per day, according to the dashboard.

The positivity rate is now 13% across the state, down from 14% on November 16, Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said at a press conference Tuesday. 

It is too soon, however, to determine whether the statewide "pause" will be extended next week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at the press conference. 

Whitmer said state officials are bracing for a holiday-related surge in cases, despite the first two weeks of the three-week limited shut down showing positive results.

Note: These numbers were released by the state’s health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and our Covid tracker.