November 16 coronavirus news

Covid-19 cases are on a dramatic rise in California, up 51.3% in the past week.

Daily cases have doubled in just 10 days, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a news conference Monday. 

California’s positivity rate is 4.6% today, but has jumped from its lowest point – 2.5% – just one month ago. The state added at least 9,890 new cases Monday and has seen hospitalizations rise 48% in the past two weeks. Just last week, the state reported its 1 millionth Covid-19 case.

About 70% of the counties in the state are moving backward into more restrictive tiers, with 41 of the 58 counties falling under the most restrictive of the state’s four-tiered reopening system. That includes all counties in Southern California, including Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego.

In this most restrictive tier, where infections are considered widespread, guests are welcomed only outdoors at restaurants, gyms and places of worship. 

With Thanksgiving next week, Health Secretary Mark Ghaly urged Californians to “keep their guard up, even if they’re with people that they love that they haven’t seen in a while.”

California joined with Oregon and Washington on Friday, in issuing a travel advisory suggesting all residents avoid non-essential travel. Travelers are implored to self-quarantine for two weeks upon their arrival in to one of these West Coast states.

US stocks rallied on Monday after Moderna said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective.

The Dow surged closer to the 30,000-point mark, a level it has never reached in its history, and closed just 48 points below it. The index closed up 1.6%, or 471 points, surpassing its February all-time high.

The S&P 500 also notched a new record closing high, ending up 1.2%.

The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.8%.

Note: As stocks settle after the trading day, levels might still change slightly.

State health officials in Nevada say they are seeing more people complying with orders to wear a mask in public places as the state’s daily case count has skyrocketed, but the change of heart may have come too late to turn things around quickly.

Nevada reported at least 1,914 new coronavirus cases Monday as the statewide death toll rose to 1,917 since the pandemic began. There are now at least 984 people being treated in Nevada hospitals with a confirmed coronavirus infection – a new record.

The state’s Covid-19 response director, Caleb Cage, said enforcement of efforts to stop the spread have been uneven.

“What's been missing overall from the process is comprehensive mitigation measures that have been applied consistently at the local level,” Cage said. 

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Friday that he tested positive for Covid-19. Sisolak said in a written statement Monday that he has mild symptoms and continues to work in isolation.

“The governor's in good spirits,” added his spokesperson, Meghin Delaney. 

As they work closely with local health departments on a response to the surge, Cage added to the growing call for people to avoid large family holiday plans this year.

“I would personally request for people to stay home and stay with their immediate families on Thanksgiving,” he said.

 Best Western CEO David Kong on Monday called congressional inaction on stimulus “tremendously maddening and frustrating,” despite promising vaccine news. 

Kong noted how the recent spike of Covid-19 cases has been causing the company a “tremendous” amount of cancellations and adding “fuel to fire to a very bad situation.”

In a report last week, ratings agency S&P said that even if a coronavirus vaccine is released next year, the battered lodging industry will take several years to recover. In a worrisome stat for hotel companies, year-over-year revenue per available room, which is a closely watched metric for gauging hotel health, has decreased 50% in 2020.

Kong also noted the industry’s revenue loss, calling it “incredible carnage” and pointed to the disconnect between struggling hotel owners and the recent stock market rally.

“This whole big stock market rally is happening on Wall Street, it's not Main Street,” Kong said. 

CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.

The Moderna coronavirus vaccine seems to protect some of the people most at risk of severe coronavirus disease – the elderly and people of color, Noubar Afeyan, the co-founder and chairman of Moderna, said Monday.

Afeyan said the company doesn’t see “any difference in the results,” among subgroups in its Covid-19 vaccine trials.

“Moderna actually slightly slowed down the trial recruitment to ensure that we had a substantial representation, and it turns out, 37% of our trials were people, were subjects, that are considered of color,” Afeyan said on CNN International Monday.

On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that hospitalization rates are significantly higher among the Black, Latino and Alaska Native or Native American populations in the US compared to Asian and White people. Hospitalization rates are about four times higher among Blacks and Latinos than Whites.

Afeyan said the company also deliberately recruited older people to be a part of the trial. Older people are more vulnerable to getting severely ill from coronavirus infections and vaccines don’t always work as well among seniors. But interim results showed people who were over 65 and older had a “robust and equivalent” response from the vaccine, Afeyan said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said countries allowing the coronavirus go “unchecked” are playing with fire. 

Tedros did not name any particular country, but said there will be further needless deaths and suffering, he said, and there are a significant number of people who are experiencing long-term effects of the virus. Health workers are facing extreme mental health pressure and cases are burdening health systems severely in too many countries, Tedros said. 

He said that health workers went into medicine to save lives, and they must not be put in a position where they have to make impossible choices about who to care for. 

“We need to do everything we can to support health workers, keep schools open, protect the vulnerable and safeguard the economy,” Tedros said. 

“There is no excuse for inaction. My message is very clear: act fast, act now, act decisively,” Tedros said. “A laissez-faire attitude to the virus – not using the full range of tools available – leads to death, suffering and hurts livelihoods and economies.” 

Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir said Monday that his agency has distributed more than 50 million point of care tests to keep schools and universities open and to protect the vulnerable in nursing homes.

The Health and Human Services Department has distributed Abbott’s BinaxNow rapid antigen tests to nursing homes, home health care organizations, American Indian nations and historically Black colleges and universities.

For this week, the agency has distributed more than 8 million BinaxNow tests to these targeted populations.

It has also sent additional tests to conduct large scale surveillance operations in Utah where there has been a spike in cases, and extra tests in the past 10 days to support school reopenings in southeastern Pennsylvania, Giroir said.

Giroir added that he has sent a surge of tests to multiple locations in 10 states and will be extending the surge of tests to New Mexico and Kentucky for the next two weeks.

The agency also sent extra tests to nursing homes in yellow zones —regions of the country with a high number of cases — in anticipation of the approval of the Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody treatments.

“For this therapy to be most effective, it needs to be given early,” Giroir said. “So distributing BinaxNow to all nursing homes means that they have a very sensitive way to immediately diagnosis symptomatic residents who might benefit from the Lilly monoclonal that’s actually in the states as of today.”

The NCAA is planning to host the famed men’s college basketball postseason tournament, known as March Madness, entirely within the metropolitan area of Indianapolis, Indiana.

NCAA officials say they are in preliminary discussions with the city and state to coordinate a single-site for the 68-team, single-elimination tournament. The city of Indianapolis had previously been scheduled to host the men’s Final Four from April 3 – 5, 2021. 

The NCAA had been planning to host the tournament at 13 different cities for early-round games but acknowledged the challenges to maintain safe environments were too great. 

In August, University of Kentucky Athletics Director and men's basketball selection committee Chairman Mitch Barnhart declared the NCAA would do what it takes to host March Madness in 2021, telling NCAA.com, “We will absolutely do all we can do, whatever assets, whatever resources, whatever it takes, to try and give our young people the chance to play the game they love.”

On Monday, NCAA President Mark Emmert added, “The Board of Governors and my top priorities are to protect the health and well-being of college athletes while also maintaining their opportunity to compete at the highest level. These principles have guided the decision-making process as we continue to assess how to have a fair and safe championship experience.”

When asked about plans for the women's March Madness tournament, the NCAA told CNN in an email, "The women’s basketball committee is continuing its ongoing discussions with staff, broadcast partners and medical experts to determine next steps for the women’s basketball tournament. The primary focus of these discussions is on the safety and well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, officials, administrators and anyone else who will be in our competition venues."

In September, the NCAA Division I Council approved a Nov. 25 start for men’s and women’s basketball teams to begin playing games for the upcoming season.

The NCAA was forced to cancel the 2020 edition of March Madness due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus. Previously, the men's Division I championship had been played every year since its inception in 1939.

The NFL’s Cleveland Browns have announced a player tested positive for Covid-19 Monday morning. The unnamed player immediately began to self-isolate, and the Browns closed the team’s facility while contract tracing is being conducted, per NFL-NFLPA Covid-19 protocols.

The 6-3 Browns, who are coming off a win Sunday over the Houston Texans, are scheduled to host the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday.

Here's the team's statement: