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CDC
pleads
with
Americans
to avoid
Thanksgiving
travel
By
MIKE
STOBBE
and
HEATHER
HOLLINGSWORTH
7-9
minutes
NEW
YORK -
With the
coronavirus
surging
out of
control,
the
nation’s
top
public
health
agency
pleaded
with
Americans
on
Thursday
not to
travel
for
Thanksgiving
and not
to spend
the
holiday
with
people
from
outside
their
household.
The
Thanksgiving
warning
from the
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
came as
the
White
House
coronavirus
task
force
held a
briefing
for the
first
time in
months
and Vice
President
Mike
Pence
concluded
it
without
responding
to
questions
by
reporters
or
urging
Americans
not to
travel.
Other
members
of the
task
force —
whose
media
briefings
were a
daily
fixture
during
the
early
days of
the
outbreak
— talked
about
the
progress
being
made in
the
development
of a
vaccine.
Health
and
Human
Services
Secretary
Alex
Azar
said
pharmaceutical
companies
Pfizer
and
BioNTech
will
seek
emergency
government
approval
for
their
coronavirus
vaccine
on
Friday.
And
infection
disease
expert
Dr.
Anthony
Fauci
sought
to
reassure
the
public
that the
vaccine
is safe
while
still
encouraging
Americans
to wear
masks.
The
CDC’s
Thanksgiving
warning
was some
of the
firmest
guidance
yet from
the
government
on
curtailing
traditional
gatherings
to fight
the
outbreak.
The
CDC
issued
the
recommendations
just one
week
before
Thanksgiving,
at a
time
when
diagnosed
infections,
hospitalizations
and
deaths
are
skyrocketing
across
the
country.
In many
areas,
the
health
care
system
is being
squeezed
by a
combination
of sick
patients
filling
up beds
and
medical
workers
falling
ill
themselves.
The
CDC’s
Dr. Erin
Sauber-Schatz
cited
more
than 1
million
new
cases in
the U.S.
over the
past
week as
the
reason
for the
new
guidance.
“The
safest
way to
celebrate
Thanksgiving
this
year is
at home
with the
people
in your
household,”
she
said.
If
families
do
decide
to
include
returning
college
students,
military
members
or
others
for
turkey
and
stuffing,
the CDC
is
recommending
that the
hosts
take
added
precautions:
Gatherings
should
be
outdoors
if
possible,
with
people
keeping
6 feet
apart
and
wearing
masks
and just
one
person
serving
the
food.
Whether
Americans
heed the
warning
is
another
matter.
The
deadly
comeback
by the
virus
has been
blamed
in part
on
pandemic
fatigue,
or
people
getting
tired of
masks
and
other
precautions.
And
surges
were
seen
last
summer
after
Memorial
Day and
July
Fourth,
despite
blunt
warnings
from
health
authorities.
The
United
States
has had
more
than 11
million
diagnosed
infections
and over
250,000
deaths
from the
coronavirus.
CDC
scientists
believe
that
somewhere
around
40% of
people
who are
infected
do not
have
obvious
symptoms
but can
still
spread
the
virus.
___
CALIFORNIA
CURFEW
Democratic
Gov.
Gavin
Newsom
on
Thursday
announced
the
imposition
of an
overnight
curfew
on most
residents
as the
most
populous
state
tries to
head off
a virus
case
surge
that
officials
fears
could
tax the
state’s
health
care
system.
What
officials
called a
limited
stay-at-home
order
requires
nonessential
residents
to stay
home
from 10
p.m. to
5 a.m.
starting
Saturday.
It lasts
until
Dec. 21
but
could be
extended.
It
covers
94% of
the
state’s
nearly
40
million
residents.
“The
virus is
spreading
at a
pace we
haven’t
seen
since
the
start of
this
pandemic
and the
next
several
days and
weeks
will be
critical
to stop
the
surge.
We are
sounding
the
alarm,”
Newsom
said in
a
statement.
Also
Thursday,
Rhode
Island
Democratic
Gov.
Gina
Raimondo
announced
a
“two-week
pause”
with
some
businesses
closures
and
capacity
reduced
for
restaurants
and
houses
of
worship
starting
Nov. 30.
Officials
will
reevaluate
COVID-19
caseloads
on Dec.
13 and
if they
have not
eased,
she said
“a full
state
lockdown”
will
follow.
In
New
Hampshire,
Republican
Gov.
Chris
Sununu
previously
resisted
calls
for a
statewide
mask
mandate
but
issued
an order
requiring
face
coverings
to be
worn in
public
spaces
indoors
and
outdoors.
___
KEEPING
UP WITH
NON-COVID-19
CASES
Hospitals
are
struggling
to keep
up with
non-coronavirus
cases
ranging
from
broken
bones to
heart
attacks
in
states
where
COVID-19
cases
are
tying up
resources.
In
Kansas,
rural
hospitals
are
running
into
difficulty
trying
to
transfer
patients
to
larger
hospitals
for more
advanced
care.
“Whether
it is
regular
pneumonia
or
appendicitis
or
fractures
that
need
surgery,
they
have a
limited
amount
of beds
in their
facilities
and they
are not
taking a
lot of
these
routine
cases,”
said
Perry
Desbien,
a nurse
practitioner
who
works in
Smith
Center
and
other
rural
communities.
“They
are
saying,
‘Send
them
home.
Have
them
follow
up in
the
office.
Unless
it is
life-threatening,
we don’t
want to
see them
either.’”
Earlier
this
month,
the Mayo
Clinic
Health
System
in
Wisconsin
announced
it was
suspending
elective
medical
procedures.
Illinois
Gov.
J.B.
Pritzker
noted
that
with
COVID-19
patients
claiming
a
quarter
of the
state’s
hospital
beds,
there
are
fewer
resources
for
heart
attack
patients,
expectant
mothers
or
cancer
patients.
“When we
let our
hospitals
get
overrun
or even
close to
it, it
is all
of us
suffering,”
Pritzker
said.
SICK
HOSPITAL
WORKERS
The
Mayo
Clinic
Health
System,
a
Midwest
network
of
hospitals
and
clinics
run by
the
world-renowned
Mayo
Clinic,
reported
that 905
staff
members
have
been
diagnosed
with
COVID-19
in the
past two
weeks.
Dr.
Amy
Williams,
executive
dean of
Mayo
Clinic
Practice,
said the
vast
majority
were
exposed
in the
community
and not
at work.
“It
shows
how
widely
spread
this is
in our
communities
and how
easy it
is to
get
COVID-19
in the
communities
here in
the
Midwest,”
she
said.
In
Kansas,
178
employees
and
doctors
at a
Topeka
hospital
had
active
coronavirus
cases or
were
isolated
and on
leave
because
of
contact
with
someone
who had
coronavirus.
And the
University
of
Kansas
Hospital
in
Kansas
City and
nearby
clinics
had 206
employees,
including
physicians,
nurses
and
support
staff,
out as
of
Tuesday
after
testing
positive.
An
additional
260 were
not at
work and
quarantining
while
they
awaited
test
results.
POSITIVITY
RATE
The
positivity
rate —
the
percentage
of tests
coming
back
positive
for the
virus —
has
taken on
a more
prominent
role in
the
nation’s
response
to the
crisis
in
recent
days.
New
York
City
shut
down
in-person
classes
in the
nation’s
largest
school
system
this
week
after
the
positivity
rate
surpassed
3%. That
angered
families
who
believe
it is
too
stringent
a
standard
and
question
why bars
and
restaurants
can
remain
open.
The
positivity
rate has
soared
to
record
levels
all
around
the
nation.
South
Dakota,
Iowa and
Wyoming’s
rate are
all
averaging
above
50%, and
the
national
average
is now
10%.
Health
experts
caution
that
there
are
weaknesses
in the
positivity
data
because
states
calculate
the rate
differently.
But they
say the
overall
trend is
not in
dispute,
and it
indicates
severe
spread
and, in
many
places,
insufficient
testing.
___
Hollingsworth
reported
from
Mission,
Kansas.
Associated
Press
reporters
from
around
the
country
contributed.
___
The
Associated
Press
Health
and
Science
Department
receives
support
from the
Howard
Hughes
Medical
Institute’s
Department
of
Science
Education.
The AP
is
solely
responsible
for all
content.
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