₦airaland Forum

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has jumped nearly 50% in the last 14 days, straining the nation's healthcare system and forcing states to impose new restrictions to curb the alarming spread of the coronavirus.
Nearly 79,000 people in the United States were hospitalized with the virus on Thursday, a Reuters tally shows, the most at any time during the pandemic, following sharp rises in infection rates around the country and particularly the Midwest.
New social restrictions aimed at slowing community spread and lowering the infection rate were taking effect this week, including the abrupt closing of New York City's public schools on Thursday as the city's 7-day positive test rate average hit 3%. Restaurants, bars, fitness centers and entertainment venues in Minnesota were ordered closed starting on Friday through at least Dec. 18.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his decision to shut down the nation's largest school district, noting that additional safety standards to reopen schools would be announced before Thanksgiving after consultation with Governor Andrew Cuomo.
"Our schools are going to come back, but they're going to come back with additional safety standards," de Blasio told CBS on Thursday.
Suzanna Riordan, a Brooklyn mother, said she burst into tears upon learning that her 7-year-old daughter would be denied in-school learning until at least after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Her daughter Olivia had been excited at the prospect of adding one more day of in-person education a week starting next week, Riordan said. But the excitement quickly turned into disappointment.
"Since September she's gotten maybe seven days in school," Riordan told Reuters. "And those are the days where...she comes home excited and happy and she gets to see other second graders. And that's gone again."
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, one of several Midwest states dogged by the country's highest infection rates per capita, said his shutdown order was necessary as more than 90% of hospital intensive care unit (ICU) beds were already occupied in the eastern half of the state.
In nearby Wisconsin, 90.2% of ICU beds were occupied on Thursday, state data showed.

A 300-person wedding in Washington state has been linked to more than a dozen coronavirus cases and "two subsequent outbreaks," health officials said.
The wedding ceremony was held on Nov. 7 in a private location near Ritzville about 59 miles southwest of Spokane.
The Grant County Health District did not release details about the wedding but said in a Facebook post on Monday that 17 people associated with the wedding tested positive for Covid-19 and that more cases are being added daily. There have also been two subsequent outbreaks linked to guests at the wedding who tested positive for Covid-19.
Officials urged all wedding attendees to get tested and to quarantine.
“We are very thankful to those attendees who have gone in for testing and are staying home. This helps protect their friends, coworkers, and communities from this illness," district administrator Theresa Adkinson said in a statement.
And in New York, a wedding and birthday party led to more than 50 infections and nearly 300 people in quarantine.
Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said the birthday party in Bellport had about 50 attendees and did not violate emergency state health codes, but showed how quickly the virus can spread when social distancing rules aren't followed.
The wedding held on Oct. 17 at North Folk Country Club in Cutchogue, Long Island, was in violation of the state’s rule allowing no more than 50 people in a room.
The venue was issued a $17,000 fine, according to officials.
“This kind of blatant disregard for the well being of others is not only extremely disappointing, it will not be tolerated,” Bellone said at a news conference about the wedding.

Mr. Trump's "U.S. priority" policy has been given another explanation in the new coronavirus epidemic: the number of infections is the first, and the number of deaths is the first. This is really ironic, but it is sad that there is no dawn yet.

The U.S. is expected to surpass the summer peak of deaths from COVID-19 and near early spring levels this coming week, per the COVID Tracking Project.

The big picture: 1,321 people died from the virus on Saturday, as the seven-day average reached 1,100. COVID-19 hospitalizations have hit record highs, with 69,455 people now in the hospital with the virus in the U.S., according to the project.

The country has seen the world record for the number of new infections in a single day broken several times in November — including Friday, when 177,224 people tested positive, Johns Hopkins University data shows.
245,600 people have died from the virus and over 10.4 million tested positive in the U.S. as of Sunday morning, per JHU.
What they're saying: "Tests are rising, but cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are rising much faster," the COVID Tracking Project said in a Twitter post.

Of note: Since May 25, only Aug. 4 had a higher seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths, the project noted.

The Federal Government has asked potential passengers that will be coming into the country to pay extra for Polymerise Chain Reaction (PCR) tests from a certified private lab listed on the travel portal.
This disclosure was made via the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture Twitter handle.
According to the information available on the ministry’s twitter handle, the mandatory repeat PCR test will be conducted 7 days after arrival, and subsequently after the test 1.
What they are saying:
It tweeted, “MANDATORY PAYMENT FOR REPEAT PCR TEST: Flying to Nigeria? You must pay for your repeat PCR test.
“5,000+ passengers will come into Nigeria when all airports re-open. PCR testing prevents positive cases from coming into Nigeria.”
“Test 1: Mandatory PCR test within 5 days before departure.”
“Test 2: Mandatory repeat PCR test, 7 days after arrival.
“Pay for your repeat test from a certified private lab on the travel portal.”
What you should know: Presently, Antibody testing and PCR testing are the dominant ways that global healthcare systems are testing citizens for COVID-19.
Both prevent positive cases from coming into Nigeria. Further checks at the Nigeria International Travel Portal revealed that;
Passengers are also requested to upload their COVID-19 PCR NEGATIVE results on to the national payment portal and bring along an electronic or hard copy of the result.
Payment for a repeat (second) PCR test to be done upon arrival in Nigeria. This portal will provide passengers with the options of where and when to carry out the PCR test.
Passengers will be given an appointment date and time to present themselves at the Laboratory for a repeat COVID-19 PCR test on the 7th day after arrival.
A list of accredited private laboratory providers across the country will be available on the portals.
Passengers whose destination is Lagos will pay to the Lagos State Laboratory consortium portal.

Nigeria is to get about $250 million, following the launch of the United Nations (UN) Plus Offer for Socio-Economic Recovery.
The UN Plus Offer, which was launched at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and attended by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Hajiya Amina Mohammed, and top officials of the world body, is an initiative of the UN in Nigeria and Nigeria Development Partners Group.
According to a statement by a presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, the offer will support development of health response systems ($13.78m); protecting people ($53.3m); macroeconomic stability and economic recovery ($30.7m); and social protection ($26.6m) to assist communities.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the initiative to complement the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) is a fitting acknowledgment of the country's effort in addressing the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
"Much has been said about the ESP but one of the critical issues is social protection. And it has become even more urgent especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdowns and of course the disruptions that have taken place."
The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Hajiya Mohammed, said: "This offer is aimed at supporting Nigeria in its immediate efforts at risk mitigation by cushioning vulnerable communities, and through medium-term measures that will aid socio-economic recovery while addressing structural drivers of exclusion, inequalities and discrimination as a component of recovering better."
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative and Chair of the Nigeria Development Partners Group, Mr. Mohammed Yahya said the offer was in response to the UN Secretary General's call for action.
It is necessary to give our country a certain amount of economic help, because Covid-19 has caused immeasurable losses to all countries. As a world power, it should not discriminate and treat differently at this time, common Development is the way to sustainable capital prosperity, and the United Nations should deal with this decision in a timely manner and stabilize the overall situation.

The day President Donald Trump turns the White House over to Joe Biden, COVID-19 will remain just as big a threat to Americans. But the strategy for tackling it will change dramatically.
Public health experts expect a major reset, including a renewed emphasis on science, better communication and efforts to simultaneously boost the economy and public health rather than pitting the two against each other.
The shift is expected to be swift once Biden takes office.
"The public will immediately notice a vast change in science messaging from the White House," said Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. "The Biden administration will both convey pro-science messages and model the best behavior from among all White House and Cabinet staff." 
President-elect Biden has long been wearing face coverings and maintaining distance from others while in public, and he has said he plans to continue that practice.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said he expects to see changes in role modeling, communications, spending, collaboration with industry – and in just about every other way.
"You're going to see a very different approach here," said Emanuel, an oncologist and former health policy adviser in the Obama administration.
A Biden administration will be much better at communicating with the public, said Dr. Tom Frieden, who ran the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Barack Obama.
"Of all the failures – and there are many in this (Trump) administration when it comes to dealing with COVID – the one that I think has been most costly in terms of undermining an effective response is the failure to communicate effectively," said Frieden, now CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease.
Biden has pledged to put scientists not politicians behind the microphone, make testing widely available and free, expand national surveillance programs, and restore the CDC's real-time dashboard tracking virus-related hospital admissions.
He also has promised to quickly launch a national plan to distribute personal protective equipment to health care workers and first responders and ask for clear, national guidance from the CDC on containment, school openings, travel and gatherings.
Public health officials, not surprisingly, are far more supportive of Biden's approach than they have been of Trump's. Now, several said, there has to be a process of rebuilding the public health system and the public's faith in it.
"If we now prioritize science and public health the way we should have at the beginning, hopefully we can restore some strength to the system," said Dr. Howard Koh, a faculty member at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School, and a former assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Too many Americans have died unnecessarily during the pandemic, he and others said.
"When a loved one dies, that's a tragedy," Koh said. "When a loved one dies from a death that could have been prevented, that's a tragedy that haunts you forever."

More than 121,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the United States on Friday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. That marks three consecutive days of record cases across the country.
The United States also reported more than 1,000 deaths for the fourth straight day, the first such stretch since August, according to data published by The New York Times.
At least 17 states reported single-day records for new cases on Friday. And four states reported record deaths: Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah, according to The New York Times. In 27 states, there have been more cases announced in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch since the pandemic began, the Times reported.
In Pennsylvania, the health department on Friday confirmed that there were 3,384 additional positive cases of COVID-19, the third consecutive day with a record increase of cases statewide.
That brings the state’s total to 223,950. Pennsylvania has recorded more than 8,000 total cases in the last three days.
The health department also reported 38 more deaths attributed to COVID-19, brining the state’s total to 8,975.
The number of tests administered between Oct. 30 and Thursday was 301,056, with 17,690 positive cases, a 5.87 percent positivity rate.
The health department reported 41 additional cases in Indiana County on Friday, bringing the county’s total to 1,391. There have been 19 deaths associated with COVID-19 infections in the county.
On Thursday, there were 69 new cases reported, by far the most in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, has said the Federal Government through its industrial plan in the post-COVID-19 era is focused on the sustainability of existing businesses.
Speaking at the virtual annual conference of the Institute of Directors (IOD), Adebayo said the pandemic has catalysed strategies towards ensuring the survival of existing business and attracting more foreign investments.
The minister who was represented by his Technical Adviser on Investment, Mr Kamal Bakrin, said: "It is important to note that the pandemic has necessitated an increase of the government's focus towards ensuring the sustainability of our existing businesses, specifically in the areas of access to financing, access to markets, tax relief, and an overall improvement in the ease of doing business."
The Minister said FG's industrialisation strategy is inclusive and recognises the important role that Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play in sustainable economic growth.
"I must say that the timing of this event is auspicious for the nation and its various economic segments. The advent of the global public health pandemic has seen many businesses and government institutions, both local and foreign, struggle for survival, as boards and management teams develop and execute various strategies to ensure their organisations stay afloat," he said.

A recent study has revealed that low-income nations, including Nigeria, might lose access to COVID-19 vaccine.
Published by a global health innovation centre, Duke, the survey also showed that high-income countries and a few middle-income ones with manufacturing capacity have already purchased nearly 3.8 billion doses, with options for another five billion.
The implication being that these countries would vaccinate their entire population over and over before billions of people get attention in developing nations.
The research disclosed that medication for only 250 million people had been purchased so far by COVAX, an international effort involving both wealthy and poor countries, that promises equal access to COVID-19 therapies globally.
According to statistics, several COVAX signatories, consisting the United Kingdom, European Union and Canada, were allegedly undermining the pact by negotiating “side deals” for large shipments at the expense of others.
Painfully, the analysis said not a single low-income country had struck a sustainable agreement to purchase vaccines.
Researchers noted that Ethiopia, Africa’s second largest country, is counting on COVAX for deliveries to cover 20 per cent of its population, with no means for additional doses.
Consequently, the investigation postulated that most people in low-income countries would need to wait till 2024 for vaccination if their developed counterparts sustained what it called “vaccinationalism.”

The lead researcher, Andrea Taylor, observed: “High-income countries are making deals with major vaccine developers who are in turn reserving the lion’s share of the world’s manufacturing capacity to meet those commitments.
“We are rapidly reaching the point where soon, even countries that have the finances to shop for vaccines will find out that there is no manufacturing capacity available to fill their needs.”
THIS came as ECOWAS Parliament raised the alarm that the virus and security issues were posing a huge threat to successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in West Africa, especially operations of business start-ups.
Benefits of the pact notwithstanding, the experts pointed out that there were visible impediments to smooth running of the initiative geared at encouraging unrestricted movement of people and goods on the continent.
Among the hiccups are terrorism and insecurity which force rise in cost of goods and services.

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced late Monday that the number of children contracting COVID-19 has soared to unprecedented levels, with nearly 200,000 new cases in the month of October. In just one week late last month, 61,000 new cases were reported in kids – more than any other week during the pandemic.
In terms of overall cases, 18 states have broken daily records for new infections in the past week, and hospitalizations are up in 43 states. Since the start of the pandemic, over 9.2 million cases have been confirmed in the U.S. and more than 231,000 Americans have died due to the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
The pandemic has led to an election season unlike any other before it in the United States. In the lead up to Election Day, record numbers of Americans have cast their ballots early, as the nation continues to battle the new surge in cases.
The CDC says voters who are sick or quarantined can still go to the polls on Election Day, as long as they take proper precautions like wearing a mask.
Contributing: Adriana Diaz and The Associated Press