Coronavirus News Update – Nov. 14: Lockdowns Return, ‘The Situation is Going to Deteriorate’ Says Cuomo

By Anna Breuer on 14 November 2020
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A desolate Grand Central Terminal, the third-busiest train station in North America

As cases skyrocket across the United States skyrocket, governors and mayors are wrestling with the decision of whether or not to order shutdowns as hospitals run out of beds in their intensive-care units.  The number of new infections was over 183,000 Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, and the 14-day average is currently up 76% according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The world crossed the 51 million mark in virus cases Friday just as the United States crossed the 11 million mark.  The death toll is over 1.3 million on a global basis and over 250,000 in the United States.

One week into a four-week lockdown, Britain became the first European nation to surpass 50,000 deaths on Friday

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made a telling tweet when he said that “One in every 378 Americans tested positive for Covid over the past week. Wear a mask.”    Governor Cuomo said he was holding a summit with governors of neighboring states over the weekend. “I believe the situation is going to continue to deteriorate in the coming weeks,” Mr. Cuomo said.

In New York City, officials there said that, because the seven-day average positivity rate did not rise above 3% on Saturday, schools will not be closing for in-person instruction on Monday.

Chicago became the first city in the country to reinstate a stay-at-home advisory earlier in the past week. Governors in New Mexico and Oregon issued sweeping new lockdown orders on Friday.  New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a stay-at-home order that goes into effect Monday and remains in effect for two weeks.   In Oregon, Governor Kate Brown issued orders for a partial lockdown that includes closing gyms, halting in-restaurant dining, and limiting social gatherings to six people.

Meanwhile, the governor of North Dakota, a state that is one of the few that did not have a lockdown in the spring, issued a face mask mandate, limited restaurants to 50% capacity for indoor dining, and suspended high-school winter sports and extra-curricular activities through the middle of December.

At least 30 Secret Service officers have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks and over 60 have been told to self quarantine in the fourth outbreak in that agency, which is now required to provide full protection for President-Elect Joseph Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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