8 NFL players test positive for COVID-19
The NFL announced Tuesday that 8 players and 11 new personnel tested positive for coronavirus between October 11 and October 17.
Through this testing period, the NFL administered 38,880 tests to players and team personnel, receiving 19 positive tests in total. In accordance with health and safety regulations, the NFL tests players and some personnel daily, while others are tested weekly. Those who have tested positive have been isolated and barred from team contact and access to facilities, but are in communication with club medical staff, the league and player’s union said in a joint statement.
The NFL did not say which teams or players had positive test results.
The NFL has not announced which teams contained positive tests or the names of players and personnel. Since August 1, 47 players have tested positive, along with 71 other personnel, although only several games have been postponed or rescheduled.
Melania Trump stays off campaign trail Tuesday, citing lingering cough
First Lady Melania Trump was scheduled to travel with President Trump to a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Tuesday but is now staying home due to a lingering cough from her bout with COVID-19.
Her chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham, said the first lady continues to improve. Mrs. Trump has tested negative for the virus after contracting it along with the president and their son, Barron.
“Mrs. Trump continues to feel better every day following her recovery from COVID-19, but with a lingering cough, and out of an abundance of caution, she will not be traveling today,” Grisham said.
U.K. plans to infect healthy volunteers in new vaccine trial
U.K.-based researchers have planned a series of challenge vaccine trials in an attempt to speed up the production of a COVID-19 vaccine. The trials involve infecting healthy volunteers who have not exhibited symptoms of the virus, between the ages of 18-30, with a live version of the virus. These types of vaccine trials are uncommon because some consider them unethical.
The trials are a partnership between Imperial College London, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), hVIVO, a company familiar with viral human challenge models, and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
“Human challenge studies can increase our understanding of COVID-19 in unique ways and accelerate development of the many potential new COVID-19 treatments and vaccines,” lead researcher Dr. David Chui said in a statement. “Our number one priority is the safety of the volunteers. My team has been safely running human challenge studies with other respiratory viruses for over 10 years. No study is completely risk free, but the Human Challenge Programme partners will be working hard to ensure we make the risks as low as we possibly can.
The study will be reviewed by an ethics committee and regulators before volunteers are enrolled.
More than 220,000 have died in the U.S.
More than 220,400 people have died from coronavirus in America, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The death toll comes amid a fall surge of virus cases across the nation. As of Tuesday, over 8.2 million people have been sickened by the virus in the U.S.
Surge in coronavirus cases puts strain on Wisconsin hospitals
Health experts are warning the months ahead will be some of the hardest of the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as the U.S. climbs towards a third peak, and nowhere is it more true than in Wisconsin, which has emerged as the country’s hot spot. The state is setting records for new cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
At UW Hospital in Madison, COVID-19 hospitalizations have almost doubled since the start of October. Nurse Katie Lanoway said it happened almost overnight.
“I’m really frustrated. It is scary because you don’t want to take that home to people you care about,” Lanoway told CBS News. “We really need help here in the hospital from people outside, to start wearing the mask and staying away from people.”
One COVID-19 unit used to be limited to one hallway, which has about 10 patient rooms, and now they’ve had to expand to three hallways because of the surge.
Dr. Jeff Pothoff, UW Health’s chief quality officer, works on a medivac team that has airlifted several coronavirus patients. “They thought they were going to be OK, and then all of a sudden, they end up here. There’s some regret,” Pothoff said. “At that point, it’s too late. There isn’t a do-over.”
