December 8 coronavirus news

Rhode Island is reporting 982 new positive cases of Covid-19 and a 9.4% daily positivity rate, according to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard. The state is averaging a positivity rate of 8.9% this week — up 2 percentage points from last week, when it was 6.9%. 

The state currently has 444 people hospitalized, with 43 patients in the ICU and 25 patients on ventilators. The state is also reporting 22 new deaths, the dashboard shows. 

The total positive cases in the state to date is at least 67,067, and the death toll is at least 14,70, according to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard. 

When asked what are the chances that an individual, who is sick and in their 60s, could get monoclonal antibody therapy, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that this therapy should be available to them, and they should contact their health care provider about obtaining the therapy.

"The monoclonal antibodies we've authorized seem to work best for preventing hospitalization in outpatients early in their disease – typically within 10 days of the onset of symptoms, if you are a high-risk individual. So, over the age of 65, or over the age of 55 with a comorbidity, or, you know, some preexisting illness to put you at risk – these antibodies, for the last month since authorization, have been distributed around the country. So, they should be available locally, and it's under state jurisdiction," Hahn said.

Additionally, Hahn underscored that they shouldn't be given to people who are inpatients because there's a suggestion that they may not actually help, but instead be harmful to those who are sicker with Covid-19 and, confirmed to CNN that the FDA is working hard with the manufacturers to make more available.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he’s organizing a letter to try and rally Democrats to “stand tall” and fight for another round of stimulus checks to be included in a coronavirus relief bill.

Asked if any Republicans will be signing onto the letter, the senator said he hopes Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who he’s spoken to and has also said he supports direct checks, will help rally other Republicans. 

“I think Trump supporters out there like everybody else are hurting right now,” Sanders told reporters. “Many have lost their jobs … They want that $1,200, and I hope that the Republican leadership and members of the Republican caucus understand that.”

The number of people hospitalized in North Carolina has set another record with 2,373 total hospitalizations recorded on Monday, according to data released by the state's health department. This marks the highest number of hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic. 

In the last 24 hours, 277 people have been admitted into hospitals across the state, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

On Tuesday, the state recorded 4,670 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 404,032, according to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard. 

North Carolina currently has 5,605 deaths due to coronavirus pandemic. 

Note: These numbers were released by North Carolina’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.

Asked by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta if he would get a Covid-19 vaccine once it's available, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said on Tuesday that he plans on doing so.

He added that one of the issues the FDA is working to overcome is vaccine mistrust in this country.

"One of the reasons we've been very transparent about our process and putting public documents out – and having the Vaccine Advisory Committee – is, in fact, to try to overcome as much as possible any mistrust there might be," Hahn said.

Aides have been informed that Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis has contracted the coronavirus, according to one source familiar with the situation.

But the source added that Ellis has not been forthright with White House officials about it.

A senior official confirms Ellis was at a Christmas party designated for senior staff Friday. She regularly does not wear a mask when she is at the White House.

This news follows another development that hit the Trump campaign. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, has been hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19.

The 76-year-old former New York mayor was admitted to Georgetown University Hospital on Sunday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN. 

Kaitlan Collins reports:

The Japanese government approved a $708 billion stimulus package aimed at rebooting the post-Covid-19 economy on Tuesday.

The stimulus package dedicates $384 billion USD to fiscal spending from the government, $177 billion to post-coronavirus economic growth, $57 billion to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and $54 billion to infrastructure improvement.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had pledged to pass the stimulus package during a meeting with his Liberal Democrat party on Tuesday and said, "We have compiled these measures to maintain employment, sustain business and restore the economy and open a way to achieve new growth in green and digital areas, so as to protect people's lives and livelihoods."

Panamanian health authorities on Tuesday instituted a nightly curfew for the capital Panama City and surrounding province to slow the resurgence of coronavirus.

People will be required to stay home from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (local time) and all sales of alcohol will be suspended during those hours, according to a statement from the Panamanian Ministry of Health.

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Panama has had at least 179,230 cases and 3212 coronavirus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that while the company saw some level of protection twelve days after the first dose of their Covid-19 vaccine, “the protection is not full.”

Bourla added that from an epidemiology point of view, this is important because when a population starts having some type of immunity from the first dose, “that helps.”

“But again, I say, it’s a very big mistake if anyone tries to do it with only one dose when … with two, you almost double the protection,” he said.

Bourla's comments come after the United Kingdom became the world's first nation to begin vaccinating its citizens with a fully vetted and authorized Covid-19 shot —the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.