October 20 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci brushed off President Trump's attacks on him on Monday, calling them a "distraction" and emphasizing that he just wants to do his job.

Asked in an interview with KNX Radio in Los Angeles whether he ever feels like leaving his role at the White House due to Trump's attacks, Fauci responded with a quote from "The Godfather.”

"It depends if you take it personally. I focus totally on the health and the welfare of the people of this country. That's what I devoted 50 years of my career towards," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. 

Earlier Monday, President Trump claimed during a campaign call that people were tired of hearing about the coronavirus pandemic and criticized Fauci, calling him a "disaster."

"I would prefer not to comment on that and to just get on with what we're really trying to do," Fauci said.

"Many, many states that had been doing reasonably well are now showing upticks. That's what we should be concentrating on," Fauci said. "All that other stuff is a distraction and I would really prefer to stay away from that."

Fauci added that: "In this country, there is a fatigue of Covid. We've been dealing with this now for almost nine months."

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The coronavirus pandemic -- and all of the other things going on around us right now -- have left many people feeling the strain, pushed from one peak of anxiety to the next.

"It's the pandemic, it's the social unrest, it's climate change and the wildfires. It's the election, it's upcoming holidays," said Vaile Wright, the American Psychological Association's senior director of health care innovation.

If your coping skills already seem pretty worn down, there are actions you can take to boost your well-being and strengthen your endurance during this stressful time.

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Even as coronavirus cases rise across Europe and in the UK, London's leaders are looking for ways to help the capital "reinvent itself" and emerge stronger from the pandemic.

The City of London wants to revamp the capital's transport network to suit different commuting patterns as more people work from home, with the creation of "flexible working" season tickets one option being considered.

It also wants to encourage small businesses and arts organizations back to the capital’s center by providing affordable and "hyper flexible" working spaces, according to a new report from the City of London Corporation, published on Tuesday.

This could include transforming offices into hubs that can be rented flexibly, or turning unused space into artists’ studios or pop-up galleries. 

"London is today facing major challenges,” said Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, in a news release. "Coronavirus, the UK’s exit from the European Union and increasing protectionism across the globe are all threats to the capital’s role as an international business hub."

The City’s goal is for a fifth of office tenants in London’s "Square Mile" to be new businesses within five years, according to the report, "London Recharged: Our vision for London in 2025."

It wants half of all journeys from major train stations to workplaces to be made on foot or by bicycle -- and 99% of all above-ground journeys under one kilometer. The report suggests prioritizing pedestrians at crossings and developing routes through the city’s green "arteries."

It also wants to increase the numbers of evening and weekend visitors to the city center by 50%, reduce buildings' carbon emissions and ensure buses and daytime delivery vehicles are electric.

It recommends making the case for visa and immigration changes to make it simpler for skilled workers to enter the UK; establishing a fund to support digital transformation and providing dedicated funding for underrepresented groups.

Plague outbreaks in London spread four times faster in the 17th century than they did in the 14th century, researchers have estimated after studying troves of wills and death records. 

Researchers from Canada's McMaster University analyzed thousands of documents spanning 300 years -- including personal wills and testaments, parish registers and the London Bills of Mortality -- to search for patterns on how the plague spread through the population. 

Plague, one of the deadliest bacterial infections in human history, caused an estimated 50 million deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages, when it was known as the Black Death.

Researchers believe that factors including population density, living conditions and cooler temperatures could help to explain the acceleration of the disease in London -- and assist with our understanding of modern pandemics, such as the current Covid-19 pandemic.

"A given pathogen can cause very different epidemics, whether it's in the same place over time, or in different places," David Earn, a mathematics professor at McMaster and lead author of the research, told CNN.

The findings could provide clues to how the current coronavirus pandemic, and any future pandemics could behave.

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A Covid-19 outbreak at a Kansas nursing home has left every resident infected with the disease and 10 dead, according to the county health department.

All 62 residents at the privately-owned Andbe Home in the city of Norton tested positive for Covid-19, the Norton County Health Department said in a news release.   

Of the 62 residents, 10 have died, one is in hospital and the remaining 51 are being cared for at the nursing home, the health department said.

Family members have been notified, according to the news release. 

Norton is located a little over five hours west of Kansas City. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the state of Kansas has recorded 71,557 cases and 870 deaths as of Monday.

Hong Kong has announced a minor relaxation of its social distancing measures after cases in the region dropped for seven days, its Secretary for Food and Health announced.

Professor Sophia Chan announced the news after there were no community outbreaks or untraceable cases in the past three days.

The changes mean that, from October 23:

However, Hong Kong's four-person rule, midnight curfew and mandatory mask-wearing regulations have been extended until October 29.

Chan said the department continues to prepare for the possibility of a fourth wave of the virus. 

"Lord, give me back my memory."

For months, as Marilyn Walters struggled to recover from Covid-19, she has repeated this prayer day and night.

Like other older adults who've become critically ill from the coronavirus, Walters, 65, describes what she calls "brain fog" -- difficulty putting thoughts together, problems with concentration, the inability to remember what happened a short time before.

This sudden cognitive dysfunction is a common concern for seniors who've survived a serious bout of Covid-19.

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The British government has set a noon (7 a.m. ET) deadline to reach an agreement with Manchester today on enacting anti-epidemic measures.

Manchester authorities, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burham, have been at odds with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government about how to handle the recent spike in cases -- and whether to move the city from the UK's second tier of restrictions to its most severe third tier.

“The deteriorating public health situation in Greater Manchester means that we need to take action urgently,” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said in a statement on Monday.

Burnham has resisted the government's efforts to increase the severity of his city's measures, urging for more financial measures to protect workers placed under stricter rules.

However, Johnson's government has called on Manchester authorities to enact lockdown-like measures in order to stop the virus from spreading. The Prime Minister said he would intervene if regional leaders could not reach a deal with the national government.

Covid-19 numbers are once again climbing back up across the United States, with more than half of US states reporting a rise in new infections in what experts say is the dreaded fall surge.

And there's several factors that got the country here, one expert told CNN.

Among them are college and school reopenings, Dr. Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told CNN Monday night. But that's not all.

And those gatherings will likely multiply as the holidays approach and more people transition indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.

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