NYC Outbreak Worsens; California Warns of Lockdown: Virus Update

7 min readDec 4, 2020

New York City’s average number of coronavirus cases and its infection rate hit the highest levels since May, while statewide daily infections closed in on 10,000. New Jersey reported record cases. California will impose a new shelter-at-home order if hospitals start running short of intensive-care capacity. Delaware, reporting record cases, issued a stay-at-home advisory.

Pfizer expects to ship half the Covid-19 vaccines it originally planned for 2020 due to supply-chain problems, Dow Jones reported. Moderna Inc.’s vaccine appears to offer protection against the coronavirus that will last a minimum of three months and potentially much longer, researchers found.

The latest wave of Covid-19 has inundated the Sun Belt, adding pressure on tourism-dependent cities brutalized by infections and deaths in July and August. Facebook said it will start removing false claims about immunizations that have been debunked by public health experts.

Key Developments:

Global Tracker: Cases reach 64.9 million; deaths top 1.5 million
Covid fighters run out of weapons with virus spreading in homes
Covid’s Sun-Belt return targets Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas
Operation Warp Speed and U.K. vaccine drive leave Europe behind
N.Y. developers hire influencers to sell homes during Covid
Vaccine Tracker: Covid-19 inoculations are about to begin

Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID

Delaware issued a stay-at-home advisory, halting in-person learning at schools, prohibiting winter sports competitions and requiring people to wear masks indoors if mixing with another household. The order runs from Dec. 14 through Jan. 11.

“A vaccine is on the way but, make no mistake, we are facing the most difficult few months of this crisis,” said Governor John Carney, a Democrat. “I know we’re all tired of Covid-19 — but it’s not tired of us. We’re pleading with Delawareans to do the right thing.”

The state already requires masks in public settings — and the new order does not change the rules for people at work or commuting.

Colorado Projects Thousands More Deaths (4:43 p.m. NY)

Covid-19 could kill between 2,000 and 4,400 people in Colorado this month, based on official state modeling data released Thursday. “The numbers could go up by much as several thousand deaths,” said Jon Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, during an online news conference.

As of Dec. 2, Colorado tallied 3,193 deaths among Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started. It is estimated 1-in-40 of the state’s population of 5.7 million are currently infected, Samet said. Last week it was 1-in-41 with Colorado Governor Jared Polis testing positive over the weekend.

“We have a population that is fatigued with doing what it needs to do,” Samet said. “I don’t like to be a grim prognosticator here. But if the curve keeps rising” it’s estimated “we’ll see more hospitalizations, more, cases more deaths.”

Ohio’s Travel Advisory Now Includes Ohio (4:25 p.m. NY)

Ohio’s positive-test rate climbed above 15% for the first week since April, Governor Mike DeWine said. He released a map showing states where Ohioans are advised against traveling — which now includes Ohio.

The state reported near-record hospitalizations amid warnings from medical officials that the system is already overwhelmed, before an expected post-Thanksgiving increase. DeWine reported 8,921 new cases, the fifth highest on record, and 82 more deaths.

N.Y. Hospitalizations Most Since May (4:01 p.m. NY)

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Coronavirus hospitalizations in New York topped 4,000 for the first time since late May, as new cases in the state closed in on 10,000 a day, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Of the more than 203,000 tests conducted statewide on Wednesday, 9,855, or 4.84%, were positive, including hot spot areas, Cuomo said at a briefing in Albany. There were 4,063 hospitalizations, up 139 from the day prior, and 61 virus-related deaths.

The state is focusing on increasing the number of hospital beds available as fears of overwhelming the hospital system increase. There currently are about 53,000 hospital beds statewide, 35,000 of which are occupied, Cuomo said.

The state can increase to up to 75,000 beds using its “surge and flex” program, he said, adding that about 19,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalized at the peak of the pandemic in March and April.

Pfizer Cut Vaccine Rollout Target on Supply-Chain Obstacles, DJ Reports (3:54 p.m. NY)

Pfizer expects to ship half the Covid-19 vaccines it originally planned for 2020 due to supply-chain problems, Dow Jones reported, citing a company spokeswoman.

The company still expects to roll out more than a billion doses in 2021.

“Scaling up the raw material supply chain took longer than expected and it’s important to highlight that the outcome of the clinical trial was somewhat later than the initial projection,” a company spokeswoman said.

California to Lock Down If ICUs Fall Short of Capacity (3:49 p.m. NY)

California, the first state to tell residents to stay home to fight the coronavirus pandemic, may be about to do it again.

Governor Gavin Newsom warned Thursday that the state would impose a new shelter-at-home order if hospitals start running short of intensive-care capacity, a dire possibility that could happen in some areas as soon a this week.

Moscow will begin giving high-risk workers Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday after President Vladimir Putin called for authorities to roll out a mass inoculation program. The first doses will be for teachers, health care workers and city social services employees, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his blog.

Russia has the world’s fourth-highest number of cases globally, with almost 2.4 million. On Wednesday, Putin said more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will be ready for use in the coming days.

A health worker administers a Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine shot during a trial at the City Clinic #2 in Moscow, on Nov. 26.

Greece extended its lockdown until Dec. 14, said Stelios Petsas, a government spokesman. “Certain types of economic activity are simply not going to operate until we have a vaccine,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday.

The number of coronavirus cases reported in Iran surpassed 1 million on Thursday, underlining the virus’s persistent spread in the Middle East’s worst outbreak. The Health Ministry announced 13,922 new cases in the country of about 80 million, above the seven-day average of 13,598.

— With assistance by Ian Fisher, Thomas Mulier, Andras Gergely, Prim Chuwiruch, Tommaso Ebhardt, Onur Ant, John Martens, Corinne Gretler, Stuart Wallace, Teaganne Finn, Misha Savic, Michelle Fay Cortez, Marco Bertacche, Henrique Almeida, Andrew Ballard, Henry Goldman, David R Baker, Keshia Clukey, and Vincent Del Giudice