The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finalizing plans to shorten the recommended length of quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19.
Meanwhile, doctors are facing daunting decisions around which patients should be first in line for the two authorized Covid-19 antibody treatments that may help keep high-risk patients out of the hospital. Both are in short supply.
- Map of U.S. hot spots and worldwide Covid-19 cases.
- Tracking surges in states across the country this winter.
- Map of travel restrictions and which states have a mask mandate.
- Click here for more of NBC News’ Covid-19 coverage.
Tim Stelloh
1h ago / 11: 51 PM UTC
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday as the state confronts surging caseloads and record-high hospitalizations, his office said in a statement.
Gordon, a Republican former state treasurer who has been governor since last year, has minor symptoms and will continue working remotely, the statement said.
The announcement came nearly a week after Gordon announced new measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. Those measures did not include a statewide mask mandate, despite pleas from all but one of the state’s county health officials, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
During a news conference announcing the measures, Gordon repeatedly called people who have dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic “knuckleheads,” the newspaper reported.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Wyoming’s sharp rise in coronavirus cases over the last month reflects the surge occurring across much of the United States. According to the Johns Hopkins data, the positivity rate in the state over the last two weeks is 57 percent — the highest in the country.
The World Health Organization says that positivity rates should remain below 5 percent.
Corky Siemaszko
49m ago / 12: 17 AM UTC
80 nursing home patients in West Virginia facility, nearly every resident, test positive for Covid-19
All but five of the 85 residents of a West Virginia nursing home have tested positive for Covid-19, the facility reported on its website Wednesday.
The Stonerise Moundsville facility, which is located in the city of Moundsville, was ordered closed to all visitors by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the local NBC News affiliate WTOV reported.
Members of the West Virginia National Guard have been “on hand to help” with the mass outbreak, the affiliate reported.
West Virginia has recorded more than 43,000 Covid-19 infections and nearly 700 deaths due to the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest NBC News data.
Martha C. White
2h ago / 10: 49 PM UTC
Covid-19 surge triggered by Thanksgiving could further weaken economic recovery
Americans might be gearing up for the holidays, but economists are looking ahead to January, trying to parse a bevy of new data points for clarity on what lies beyond 2020.
The picture is, at best, murky — and there is growing trepidation that an uncontrolled Covid-19 surge triggered by the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend could further weaken a slowing recovery.
“What we’re looking for at the moment is signs of cracks in what has been reasonably good economic growth,” said Gary Schlossberg, global strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
The economic data coming out is vexing even the experts: Some figures indicate continued, albeit more modest, recovery, but others are flashing red. One of the warning signs is weekly jobless claims, which jumped to a higher-than-expected 778,000 last week — the second weekly increase in a row.
David K. Li and Elise Wrabetz
3h ago / 10: 14 PM UTC
Pennsylvanians receive emergency alert to stay home or at least mask up, keep distance
The state of Pennsylvania sent an emergency phone alert on Wednesday afternoon, urging everyone to stay home or at least adhere to coronavirus protocols this Thanksgiving weekend.
While phone alerts are normally used to warn about severe weather or a missing child, this late afternoon bulletin pleaded with Keystone State residents to stay safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was sent to everyone with a cell phone with wireless alerts on in Pennsylvania,” health department spokesman Nate Wardle told NBC News. “So yes, (it went to) millions.”
Gabe Gutierrez
4h ago / 9: 23 PM UTC
Air Force nurses spend Thanksgiving fighting war against Covid-19
BISMARCK, N.D. — About 60 Air Force nurses are spending Thanksgiving at short-staffed hospitals across North Dakota as the coronavirus ravages the largely rural state.
Capt. Ronald Golemboski said he never expected to end up here fighting an unseen enemy after serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s always hard,” he said. “But as members of the Department of Defense, we’re tasked to fight all enemies, and that’s whoever and wherever they may be — including this virus.”
Erik Ortiz
4h ago / 9: 00 PM UTC
As South Dakota takes hands-off approach to coronavirus, Native Americans feel vulnerable
In the early weeks of the pandemic, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota enacted drastic measures to fend off the spread of the coronavirus across its stark and sprawling prairie land.
The tribe installed checkpoints in April on roadways cutting through the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation to limit drivers without official business — part of a robust contact tracing program.
“We are doing this to save our residents, their lives,” tribal Chairman Harold Frazier told NPR in May, when there was just one case of Covid-19 on the reservation, where about 12,000 people reside.
Even as case numbers stayed low, tribal officials imposed a mask mandate over the summer and rolled out mass testing events. And after South Dakota logged a record number of infections this month, Frazier on Monday began a 10-day lockdown of Eagle Butte, the remote town where the tribe’s headquarters are located.
Minyvonne Burke
4h ago / 8: 43 PM UTC
$15K fine for NYC synagogue with 7,000 person capacity after massive secret wedding
A Brooklyn synagogue was fined $15,000 for violating coronavirus restrictions after a video surfaced showing people standing shoulder-to-shoulder and apparently without masks at a massive, secret Hasidic wedding.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the fine at a news conference on Tuesday and condemned the large event as “unacceptable.”
The wedding was held on Nov. 8 at Yetev Lev D’Satmar synagogue in the Williamsburg neighborhood, according to the New York Post, which published a video that showed the crowd jumping, dancing and singing during the event. The video does not show people wearing masks.
Kevin Collier
5h ago / 8: 20 PM UTC
Dozens of college basketball games scheduled for season opener cancelled over coronavirus
At least 30 Division I men’s basketball games scheduled to be played Wednesday, the day of the season’s opener, have been either cancelled or postponed over coronavirus concerns.
Wednesday, the first day of scheduled college basketball since the season was abruptly cancelled in March without the annual NCAA national championship tournament, was supposed to be a bevy of more than 100 games.
But while some of them are underway, nearly a third of those have been cancelled or postponed, including ranked matchups like #2 Baylor vs #18 Arizona State.
Leticia Miranda
5h ago / 7: 42 PM UTC
Holiday crowds are good for business — but not for retail workers
This year’s holiday shopping season is expected to bring in record sales — forcing many retail workers to the front lines of the pandemic, often without hazard pay, despite another surge of coronavirus infections.
“Retail workers experience heightened stress and pressure during the holiday season, even in normal times. However, this year, that stress is exponentially increased because of the serious health and safety risks resulting from the pandemic,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said in a statement.
“Workers are in public-facing jobs; and they interact with larger numbers of customers during the holiday season, risking their own exposure to Covid-19 as well as possibly bringing it home to their families,” he said.
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