New York City and parts of New Jersey, former epicenters of the pandemic, have reported an increase in the number of cases that government officials warn could be part of a second wave.
New York City is seeing a “very worrisome” uptick in cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. The city’s average test positivity rate reached 1.9% Thursday, the highest rate in weeks. Daily test positive rates are even higher, hovering around 2.8% every day this week.
The city is prepared to shut down the school system if the test positive rate hits 3%. De Blasio has also called for restaurants to shut down once the test positive rate reaches 2%, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets the final say.
“The growth is what worries me. And we cannot allow that number to keep growing. We’re really going to have to double down,” de Blasio said. “This is a dangerous time, and we have to take it really, really seriously.”
In New Jersey, coronavirus cases have risen more than 1,000 each day for more than a week, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday. Hospitalizations in New Jersey have also risen steadily since late September. Currently, 1,010 coronavirus patients are receiving care in the hospital, up from yesterday’s total of 957 and the total this time last week of 852.
“It’s coming, and it’s coming now,” Murphy said.
New Jersey imposed new restrictions on businesses Thursday aimed at stemming the rising number of coronavirus cases. Murphy’s new order will require businesses to provide temperature checks at job sites, socially distance when possible, offer free masks, and notify employees of known exposures.
Business groups worried that the restrictions would create more bureaucratic burdens for businesses just as they are recovering from the recent economic downturn.
New York City has recorded more than 50% of the state’s total cases, with 261,607 since the pandemic began. Roughly 24,000 New Yorkers have died. In New Jersey, cases have reached 232,997, according to the COVID Tracking Project. More than 16,000 have died.
To date, more than 8.9 million COVID-19 cases and 228,000 deaths have been confirmed in the United States.
A renewed coronavirus outbreak has struck wide swaths of Europe, forcing leaders to reinstate restrictions aimed at stopping a second wave. Leaders of Germany and France reinstated sweeping restrictions similar to those enacted in the spring. Meanwhile, the British and Spanish governments have given regional governments authority to lock down the way they see fit. This second round of national shutdowns is part of the European Union’s effort to avoid a redux of the spring, when hospitals were strained by the number of COVID-19 patients.
Sweden has imposed local restrictions on most of the population as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies, the Financial Times reported. Residents of the Stockholm region, where the capital city is located, have been asked to avoid visiting shops, sports matches, or having contact with other households. Sweden, the heaviest-hit country in Scandinavia, was the only European country along with Belarus not to impose a nationwide lockdown in the spring along with neighboring countries.
In Greece, seven regions have been placed on lockdown after health officials reported the highest daily case count Wednesday, with 1,547 new infections, the Guardian reported. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he would announce new “targeted restrictions” on Friday that would shut down specific cities and regions rather than the entire country at once.
The U.S. economy grew at a record-breaking 33.1% annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday, beating forecasters’ expectations. The massive growth number, although not enough to return the economy to pre-pandemic health, will provide President Trump to claim in the last days of the election that the country is clawing its way out of the COVID-19 recession faster than critics thought possible.
United Airlines is launching a new COVID-19 testing program to deter government officials from advocating future travel restrictions. The airline announced it will begin the testing program on flights from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to London Heathrow starting Nov. 16 until Dec. 11. The cost of the test will be covered by United and be conducted through its partner Premise Health, which will administer the test in the airline’s club near Gate C93 before the flight.
“We believe the ability to provide fast, same-day COVID-19 testing will play a vital role in safely reopening travel around the world and navigating quarantines and travel restrictions, particularly to key international destinations like London,” said United chief customer officer Toby Enqvist.
