U.S. Cases Surge Past 70,000; France Tops Record: Virus Update

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. daily cases exceeded 70,000 for the first time since late July, prompting Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to call this upward curve “a precarious place to be.”

The latest data showed the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing its previous high-water mark this summer as a new surge that started in the upper Midwest drifts east to more populous areas. New York’s hospitalizations hit their highest since June. Universal masking in the U.S. could save some 130,000 lives by the end of February, Covid-19 trackers at the University of Washington projected.

France and Italy -- along with European countries including Hungary and Bolivia -- posted daily records as the continent wrestles with a surge in cases and wider restrictions. In Spain, the number of infections is likely around 3 million, some three times higher than official data show, the prime minister said.

Key Developments:

• Global Tracker: Cases pass 42 million; deaths exceed 1.1 million
• The pandemic is nearing its previous high-water mark in the U.S.
• Covid-19 deaths are increasing in the U.S. after months of decline
• Governments around Europe began to deploy curfews more widely
• Europe facing dearth of medical staff in test of virus readiness
• Sweden’s lax Covid policy is no slam dunk for industrial sector
• ECB seen preparing more aid as spreading virus derails economy

Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on coronavirus cases and deaths.

More Records in Midwest, West (4:44 p.m. NY)

South Dakota and Utah again broke daily case records, while North Dakota reported the most-ever active cases and the highest number of hospitalizations. Wisconsin recorded its second-highest number of infections.

The spikes have helped push overall U.S. infections close to their highest point since the start of the outbreak.

Sioux Lock Down Pine Ridge (4:05 p.m. NY)

The Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the U.S.’s most famous, will go under lockdown for a week, starting Friday night, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said on Twitter. The tribe said it had 391 active virus cases.

All non-essential travel will be banned in the reservation, which is almost entirely in South Dakota, and all non-essential businesses closed, the tribe said.

Illinois Raises Warning Level (3:49 p.m. NY)

Illinois, among the Midwestern states where Covid-19 is rebounding, has put half its 102 counties at a warning level. That is up from 34 a week ago. The warning level means that at least two risk indicators for the virus have increased. Statewide, cases hit a record 4,942 on Thursday and other metrics including hospitalizations also are rising.

New York’s Covid Hospitalizations Top 1,000 (3:22 p.m. NY)

New York hospitalizations for Covid-19 topped 1,000 for the first time since June, as the state battles clusters of rising cases.

Nearly half of all new daily hospital admissions in the state have been from Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland, Orange and counties along the Pennsylvania border that New York have identified as “micro-cluster focus zone areas.” The positive testing rate in the hot spots was 2.31% on Oct. 22, compared with 0.98% outside those areas, according to data from the governor’s office.

New York, the early epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, reported more than 1,600 new cases on Oct. 22, and 11 additional deaths.

Argentina Extends Virus Measures for 14 Days (3:19 p.m. NY)

Argentina extended its virus prevention measures for 14 days, President Alberto Fernandez said, without giving dates. The country’s cases may plateau at 15,000 per day, he added.

California Has Biggest Jump in Two Months (2:30 p.m. NY)

California reported 6,141 new cases Friday, the biggest single-day jump in two months, according state health department data. The rate of positive tests climbed to 2.8% from 2.6%.

The most-populous U.S. state has seen its outbreak ease after a summer surge where cases topped more than 10,000 a day. Still, health officials have been warning of increased infections as the economy reopens, more people gather indoors and flu season approaches. The state’s 14-day rolling average of daily new cases has ticked up to 3,447 from 3,157 a week ago.

France Posts Record Number of Cases (2:09 p.m. NY)

France reported a record 42,032 new cases, the health agency said, taking the total to 1.041 million. Deaths increased by 298 to 34,508, the most since May, while hospitalizations jumped by almost 1,000 patients, rising above 15,000 for the first time in about five months.

President Emmanuel Macron, speaking a day after the government announced an extension of a nightly curfew to a vast part of the country, said authorities will have a clearer view of its impact in the middle of next week, and will have to keep adjusting measures in coming weeks.

“In the current phase, we have no other choice, given the number of daily infections, to reduce our social life to the maximum,” he said, adding it’s too early to say if the country will reintroduce local or wider lockdowns.

Fauci Raises Concerns About U.S. Surge (1:30 p.m. NY)

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, raised his concerns about the latest surge in U.S. cases. He called it “a precarious place to be” in an interview with MSNBC, saying the cases would lead to an increase in hospitalizations and eventually deaths as the colder weather keeps people indoors.

“We don’t want to shut down the country,” he said. “We’re talking about doubling down on some of the fundamental public health measures,” pointing to universal mask-wearing, social-distancing and avoiding crowds, especially indoors.

He also said the White House task force meetings have slowed to about once a week, and it’s been months since President Trump attended them. A vaccine would likely be available at the end of the year or early 2021, but a more widespread distribution will only be possible months into next year, he said.

Tighter Measures in Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg (1:03 p.m. NY)

Denmark will limit public gatherings to 10 people -- from 50 -- and expand the mandatory use of face masks after registering its highest ever daily tally of coronavirus cases.

The new measures, some of which will take effect from Monday, are the toughest since Denmark enforced one of Europe’s swiftest lockdowns back in March. A spike in new cases has spread across the Nordic region, where strategies to fight the pandemic have varied from country to country.

Belgium’s French-speaking southern region of Wallonia widened the existing national curfew that begins at midnight, ordering residents to stay inside from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for one month, after Brussels and the five Walloon provinces have 14-day incidence rates that are twice as high as those of the Flemish provinces in the north of the country.

Luxembourg also introduced a curfew to cope with a record rise in infections. People are expected to stay at home between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. for one month as soon as lawmakers approve the new restrictions. “This was not an easy decision,” Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said.

In Switzerland, Geneva plans to limit public and private gatherings to five people to slow the spread of the virus. The new measures come into effect at midnight Sunday and will be in place until Nov. 30.

WHO Sees World at Critical Juncture in Pandemic (12:49 p.m. NY)

The northern hemisphere is at a critical juncture in the pandemic, and some countries are on a dangerous track, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhahnom Ghebreyesus said.

“Too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in cases,” putting hospital capacities at risk, he said. He urged leaders to take quick action to contain the virus’s spread.

Separately, the international and Chinese teams that will study the zoonotic origins of the virus will meet virtually before the end of the month, said Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies program.

New Jersey ICU Cases Rise (11:59 a.m. NY)

New Jersey’s intensive-care hospitalizations broke 200 for the first time since July 4. The 212 people in such units were more than double those a month ago. In all, New Jersey hospitals had 874 patients, the most since July 14.

The most densely populated U.S. state has logged 14,484 lab-confirmed Covid-19 deaths, and another 1,789 fatalities had likely virus links, according to New Jersey health department data.

Virus Spread Slows Across England (11:50 a.m. NY)

The spread of coronavirus is slowing across England, as Boris Johnson imposes tighter restrictions on parts of the north and Midlands in order to rein it in further.

The rate of growth in the virus, or R rate, is about 1.2 to 1.4 across the U.K. -- down from 1.3 to 1.5 a week earlier, according to estimates released on Friday by the government’s scientific advisers, who said the rate of spread has declined across six of England’s seven regions.

The mortality rate rose in England in September for the first time since April, according to data compiled by the Office for National Statistics. Still, the virus was not one of the 10 leading causes of death registered in September in England or Wales. New Covid infections are running at about 35,200 a day in England, the ONS estimated in another report.

Separately, a high-profile rugby match between England’s national men’s team and the Barbarians, scheduled for Sunday, was canceled because several players broke Covid protocols by leaving their hotel bubble without telling anyone.

Masks in U.S. Could Save 130,000 Lives Before Vaccine (11:44 a.m. NY)

Universal masking in the U.S. could save some 130,000 lives by the end of February, according to projections by some of the nation’s top Covid-19 trackers at the University of Washington.

The analysis, which appeared Friday in the journal Nature Medicine, models the impact of different levels of social distancing on the trajectory of the pandemic from this fall to the end of February 2021.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it’s on track to distribute the masks to support school re-openings. “These masks support students, teachers, and staff in public and private schools, with an emphasis on low-income or other high-needs students and schools providing in-person instruction,” the department said.

Kudlow Says Stimulus Talks ‘Difficult’ (11:29 a.m. NY)

White House economic director Larry Kudlow said “the ball’s not moving much right now” on negotiations over an additional round of federal stimulus, even as coronavirus cases spike in parts of the country raising the prospect of further shutdowns.

“It’s very difficult,” Kudlow said Friday during an interview with Bloomberg Television, adding that there are still a number of issues dividing the White House and Democrats. “The clock is ticking, as you know.”

Italy Tops Record Again (11:17 a.m. NY)

Italy reported a 19% increase in daily virus cases Friday to a record of 19,143. The country registered 91 deaths, down from 136 Thursday.

Patients in intensive care units surpassed 1,000, reaching 1,049, compared with an early April peak of more than 4,000.

Milan, the hardest-hit area, started a night-time curfew Thursday. Italy’s government may enact a national curfew as early as 9 p.m., possibly within seven days, if current virus trends are unchecked, Corriere della Sera reported Friday.

Poland’s ‘Deep Lockdown’ Scenario Brushed Off by Economists (10:53 a.m. NY)

Poland faces a “deep lockdown” if the coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral out of control, according to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Morawiecki issued the stern warning on Friday as he announced new limits on gatherings, closures of bars and restaurants, mandatory online classes for some elementary school students and movement restrictions. The moves come after Poland registered a record number of Covid-19 cases in four of the last seven days.

Dutch Daily Tally Exceeds 10,000 for First Time (8:42 a.m. NY)

A record 10,007 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the Netherlands, Dutch news agency ANP reported, citing health agency RIVM. The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units stood at 472, an increase of nine from the day before, according to numbers released by LCPS, a hospital logistics group.

U.S. Cases Surge Past 70,000 (8:13 a.m. NY)

The U.S. added 70,919 cases on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The rolling 7-day average for new cases was more than 61,000 as of yesterday, the highest since early August.

Spain’s 3 Million Cases (7:31 a.m. NY)

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the number of people in Spain who have contracted coronavirus since the start of the pandemic likely exceeds 3 million, some three times higher than official data would suggest.

The higher number is based on serology tests, which measure the antibody response, Sanchez said. “We have to put in place the measures needed with the least economic impact,” Sanchez said. “We must at all cost avoid going back to home confinements as we did in spring. The next few weeks and months, now that we enter the winter, will be difficult, very difficult.”

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