This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Monday, November 16th, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.
New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, which includes zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms, as well as 25% indoor dining. Certain parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island under a zoned shutdown. Get answers to questions youmay have with our "Ask An Epidemiologist" series, or learn more about NYC COVID-19 testing options with our explainer. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
Here's the latest:
3 p.m. Philadelphia will halt indoor dining, as well close gyms and museums as part of a series of new restrictions to battle a steep rise in coronavirus infections. The city recorded more than 1,100 virus cases on November 13th, up from nearly 400 new infections on November 4th, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Indoor gatherings between different households will also be prohibited, as will eating and drinking at outdoor gatherings. The city's public school district had been planning to reopen for in-person learning but announced a delay last week. Private schools and colleges were ordered to move to online instruction only.
The new rules are set to take effect on Friday and will last for six weeks.
The renewed shutdown order in Philadelphia, a city of more than 1.5 million people and the largest in Pennsylvania, comes as more and more cities and states wrestle with rollbacks. Pennsylvania recently saw more than 5,000 cases in one day, an all-time high for the state.
As cases grow in New York City to more than 1,000 a day, elected officials are calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to end indoor dining, which is currently allowed to operate at 25% capacity.
Last week, Cuomo announced a 10 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants, although he said take-out and delivery could continue. On Saturday, the governor blamed "COVID fatigue, winter, restaurants, gyms, and living room family spread."
Indoor dining in Philadelphia had been expanded from 25% to 50% capacity beginning in early October.
Philadelphia restaurateurs, who had been girding for the shutdown, have pleaded for more government assistance to help them survive the pandemic.
“We shouldn’t be in this place,” restaurant owner Nicole Marquistold the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s utter chaos, and we’re now headed into the worst wave of business closures. We used all of our resources through summer. One of our priorities is to press and demand free rapid testing, just like pro sports and the White House get.”
NJ Limits Indoor And Outdoor Gatherings As Cases Surge
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is tightening indoor and outdoor gathering limits after more than 8,900 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide over the weekend, setting new daily records.
Indoor gatherings will be restricted to 10 people, down from 25, and outdoor gatherings limits will now be 150, down from 500.
“It’s gotten worse and it’s going to get worse,” Murphy said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday. He said he hopes the new measures “will begin to shave these numbers down.”
Murphy’s order comes after epidemiologists urged him to take more stringent measures to curb the second wave of the virus. Newark had already lowered indoor gathering limits to 10 people as cases there skyrocketed and the positivity rate hovered around 19 percent.
Murphy last week said towns could regulate non-essential business hours after 8 p.m. but said any other local restrictions on gatherings or businesses that differ from state guidelines would be invalidated.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has also ordered restaurants not to accept reservations of more than 10 people and set a 9 p.m. curfew in the city’s Ironbound neighborhood, where the highest number of cases have been reported.
“We gotta plead with people to not let their hair down,” Murphy said, urging residents to continue wearing face masks and social distancing, particularly as the holidays approach.
Study Shows Moderna Vaccine Is 95% Effective
The drug company Moderna announced early Monday that its phase three trial for its coronavirus vaccine yielded a 95% efficacy rate, suggesting that the United States could potentially have two vaccines by the end of the year.
"This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, in a statement.
Moderna, which is collaborating with the National Institute of Health, now becomes the second company to report promising large scale trial data on its vaccine. Pfizer, working with German biotech company BioNTech, last week reported that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.
There are four major phase three trials currently underway by U.S. drugmakers and six others by foreign companies.
Moderna is awaiting the results of more safety data, but it expects to seek federal emergency use authorization before Thanksgiving.
Public health experts hailed the news as a sign that the pandemic could eventually be extinguished by vaccines.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who got a preview of the data on Sunday, told the Washington Post, “It’s extremely good news. If you look at the data, the numbers speak for themselves."
Still, both Moderna and Pfizer have yet to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals, meaning that the data has not been substantiated by outside experts.
Under Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration initiative designed to speed up vaccine development, Moderna received $2.5 billion from the U.S. government to finance the study and manufacturing of its vaccine candidate.
Pfizer did not participate in Operation Warp Speed but instead signed a $2 billion contract to sell its doses to the U.S. government.
Moderna has said that it expects to produce 20 million doses by year end and 500 million doses next year. Like Pfizer's vaccine, Moderna's candidate requires two doses.
Amid the prospect of vaccine skeptics and operational issues, Governor Andrew Cuomo and public health experts have warned that the process of vaccinating people against COVID-19 could be one of the biggest challenges of the pandemic.
The virus is surging now through much of the country, forcing several states, including Michigan and Washington, scrambling to implement stricter restrictions.
As of Sunday, the U.S. has recorded a cumulative total of more than 11 million coronavirus cases, along with more than 245,000 fatalities.
