With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations on the rise nationwide and with every state except Hawaii and Maine in the “red zone” for outbreaks, families faced difficult choices as they prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Health authorities urged that people avoid travel and limit holiday gatherings, and many did, forgoing family traditions to avoid possible exposure to the virus. But airports saw more passengers than they had seen since mid-March, and some highways across the nation were clogged with traffic.
Meanwhile, Georgia topped 17,000 cases in nursing homes, assisted-living community and large personal care homes, and according to the facilities, by Wednesday they were nearing 2,900 resident deaths.
Statewide, as of Thursday afternoon, Georgia health authorities reported 8,716 deaths and 413,909 confirmed cases.
Here’s a look at major developments related to the coronavirus:
Error clouds vaccine study results
Drugmaker AstraZeneca on Monday announced that late-stage trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil showed that its COVID-19 vaccine is up to 90% effective. Unlike vaccines by two other drugmakers found to be highly effective, the AstraZeneca one, developed by Oxford University, doesn’t have to be stored at freezing temperatures, raising hopes that it would be easier to distribute, especially in developing countries. The vaccine is also cheaper than those by Pfizer and Moderna.
However, on Wednesday, AstraZeneca and Oxford University acknowledged that a manufacturing error raised questions about preliminary results of the vaccine. Some vaccine vials used in the trial didn’t have the right concentration of vaccine, so some volunteers received only a half dose, Oxford University said. The vaccine appeared to be 90% effective with those who received the low dose, but the relatively small number of people in the group makes it difficult to know if the effectiveness is real or a statistical quirk. Another factor: None of those in the low-dose group were more than 55 years old, and younger people tend to mount a stronger immune response than older people. The vaccine’s effectiveness with the other group, which got two full doses, appeared to be 62% effective.
Holiday travel picks up
Despite warnings that Americans should avoid travel and big Thanksgiving gatherings, the Atlanta airport and others were already seeing a bump in traffic and expected it to continue.
More than 1 million people passed through airport security checkpoints nationwide on both the Friday and Sunday before the holiday, with the volume on Sunday reaching the highest level since mid-March.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport expected its busiest day to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when officials predicted 190,000 passengers. Still, the number of travelers is expected to be down about 40% or more compared with a year ago, while flight counts are down about 20%, airport general manager John Selden said.
Task force: Ga. may see ‘full resurgence’
President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force this past week warned that Georgia is “in the early stages of full resurgence” of the virus, and it urged state leaders to take aggressive new steps to mitigate spread of the epidemic.
The latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said the state should ensure universal mask use and significantly reduce capacity or close public places — such as bars and restaurants — where face covering isn’t possible.
“This is the moment to dramatically increase mitigation,” said the report, dated Sunday.
At a media briefing on the virus Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp let the moment pass.
Kemp urged Georgians to mask up, limit holiday gatherings and follow existing health guidance. But he did not announce any new restrictions or a statewide mask mandate, as many doctors and public health experts outside his administration have also urged him to do.
Still, the state’s seven-day rolling average of confirmed cases has more than doubled since the most recent low point at the beginning of October. If “probable” cases from antigen tests are added to the mix, Georgia reported its worst week last week in new cases since the summer surge in July.
U.S. nears 13 million cases
As of Friday morning, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine had recorded almost 12.9 million cases of coronavirus in the U.S., by far the most of any nation in the world. The U.S. also continues leading the world in the number of COVID-related deaths, with more than 263,000.
On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said vaccine distributions to front-line workers, medical personnel and senior citizens will begin next week.
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not review Pfizer’s request for an emergency use of its vaccine until Dec. 10. If authorized, the vaccine could begin to be available by late December.
