Given that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden largely framed this year’s election as a referendum on U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, it’s no surprise that, as my colleague Alice Park reports, one of Biden’s first post-election moves was to unveil a new 13-member pandemic advisory board.
The group, which includes a range of experts, will in part advise Biden on the pandemic, as well as work with state and local health officials “to determine the public health and economic steps necessary to get the virus under control, to deliver immediate relief to working families, to address ongoing racial and ethnic disparities, and to reopen our schools and businesses safely and effectively,” according to a statement.
Biden’s panel is co-chaired by:
Dr. David Kessler, who served as Food and Drug Administration commissioner under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and is currently a professor at University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Vivek Murthy, who served as Surgeon General under President Barack Obama and Trump
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at Yale School of Medicine
Another notable member: Rick Bright, a virologist who until April headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Earlier this year, Bright filed a whistleblower complaint stating that his warnings about the dangers of COVID-19 were dismissed, and alleging that he was removed from BARDA after noting the lack of solid evidence supporting the benefits of hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump touted as a potential coronavirus treatment.
The team also includes:
Dr. Luciana Borio, vice president at In-Q-Tel (a venture capital firm that funds companies working on U.S. national security efforts) and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations focusing on biodefense and public health emergencies
Dr. Robert Rodriguez, a practicing physician on the front lines of the pandemic and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania (and who has advised the White House Office of Management and Budget and the National Institutes of Health)
Dr. Atul Gawande, professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School (who advised the Clinton-era Department of Health and Human Services)
Like the outgoing White House coronavirus task force, this group has a massive job trying to stem a virus that has hit the U.S. harder than any other nation in the world. Unlike Trump’s task force, they have 71 days to prepare before the power—and the burden—falls to them officially.
Perhaps the most striking thing about Biden’s announcement of his team was that he used the moment to refocus attention on the basic social-distancing measures to contain the virus that public health experts know work—but have been largely undermined by the Trump Administration’s messaging. “As we work toward a safe and effective vaccine, the single most effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19: wear a mask,” Biden said during the group’s first (virtual) meeting yesterday. “The head of the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] warned this fall that for the foreseeable future, a mask remains the most potent weapon against the virus.”
More than 50.9 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 1.25 million people have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Nov. 9, there were 487,173 new cases and 6,819 new deaths confirmed globally. Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here is every country with over 600,000 confirmed cases:
A sweeping field trial of China’s Sinovac coronavirus vaccine in Brazil has been halted after health officials reported an adverse effect in one unnamed subject, reports CNN. The trials began in July with a goal of enrolling 130,000 volunteers, and until now had been moving smoothly. Sinovac Biotech, the maker of the vaccine, insists that the adverse effect is unrelated to the shot, but Brazilian health officials must make that determination independently before the trial will be allowed to proceed.
In a grim repeat of the first coronavirus wave last spring, hospitals across Europe are reporting a shortage of beds in intensive care units, reports the Associated Press. In France, ICU beds are at 92.5% capacity. In Italy, only 2,849 ICU beds were filled out of a national total of 110,000 as of yesterday, but that figure was a huge jump from just 100 the day before. In Germany, ICU occupancy has tripled over just two weeks. Even in countries where ICU beds remain available, there is a growing shortage of doctors and nurses to staff them, officials warn.
Case numbers coming out of Russia are increasingly troubling, reports The Moscow Times. The country recorded 21,798 new cases on Friday—breaking the daily national record—led by 6,897 and 1,403 cases in Moscow and St. Petersburg respectively. Six regions in the country are posting infection rates 10 times higher than during the first peak in the spring. Despite the growing crisis, Moscow is ruling out a nationwide lockdown to head off an even worse winter surge; it’s only encouraging people to wear masks and recommending that children and employees study and work at home.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 10.1 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 238,000 people have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Nov. 9, there were 111,433 new cases and 590 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization to Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab COVID-19 drug for patients 12 and older who weigh at least 40 kg (88 lbs) and are at high risk of severe symptoms or hospitalization. The drug is a concentrated version of antibodies that have proven in studies to be most effective in helping patients battle the disease. The government has signed a $375 million agreement with Eli Lilly to buy 300,000 vials; expect that number to grow if cases continue to rise and the drug continues to prove effective.
As college campuses prepare to empty out for Thanksgiving, health officials worry that students will bring the coronavirus from school to their families, the New York Timesreports—or, as A. David Paltiel, a professor of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health, put it, that they’re “little ticking time bombs.” Colleges and universities are implementing a patchwork of measures to reduce the risk. At the University of Michigan, for example, pre-holiday testing will be mandatory for the 5,000 students who live in on-campus housing, while the State University of New York system will require all students using on-campus facilities in any capacity to test negative within 10 days of their departure.
The self-described “happiest place on Earth” just got a little sadder, as Disneyland announced an undisclosed number of furloughs for employees, Reuters reports, a downsizing that comes on top of an earlier layoff of 28,000 workers across the Disney empire. The company had been hoping to open its California theme park in October, but state officials have shelved the idea until the virus ebbs. Disneyland Paris has also been forced to shutter as France experiences another surge.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Nov. 10, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Why Aren’t Contact Tracing Apps Working?
Contact tracing apps were supposed to be big tech’s big gift to the coronavirus fight, but as my colleague Alejandro de la Garza reports, the idea isn’t remotely living up to the pre-rollout hype. Seven months into the U.S. outbreak, such apps have made slow progress across the country, hampered by sluggish and uncoordinated development, distrust of technology companies, and inadequate advertising budgets and messaging campaigns. Read more here.
The Pandemic Is Driving Women From the Workforce
While overall U.S. employment is rebounding after its catastrophic dip earlier this year, fewer women than men are returning to their previous jobs or other jobs. According to the October jobs numbers, 2.2 million fewer women are now looking for work compared to the January figure, while only 1.5 million fewer men are on the hunt. Home schooling, with the burden falling more heavily on moms than dads, is cited as a leading reason, the Washington Post reports. Read more here.
Children Show Developmental Regression Under Lockdown
U.K. education officials report that children are losing basic skills as lockdowns continue and they are denied normal amounts of socialization, the Associated Press reports. Many of them forget basic skills they had learned, like how to eat with a knife and fork; others who had been toilet trained are returning to diapers. Older children, meanwhile, are showing an erosion in academic skills like math and reading. Read more here.
New Data Reveal the Outbreak’s Mental Health Toll
One in every 17 people who contract COVID-19 could be diagnosed with clinical anxiety, depression or insomnia for the first time, according to a new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry. It comes as no surprise that contracting coronavirus is a natural stressor, but a clinical diagnosis suggests that the emotional blowback from the disease is more serious than once believed. Curiously, the cause and effect works the other way too, with people already under treatment for psychiatric conditions 65% more likely to be diagnosed with the disease than others. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jeffrey Kluger and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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