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California governor introduces new stay-at-home order amid Covid surge

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced a new regional stay-at-home order Thursday, days after he said most of the state’s intensive care beds could be over capacity within weeks as coronavirus case numbers surge.

The order, which will be applied by region, will require bars, wineries, hair salons and other nonessential businesses across five areas to close for three weeks once a region’s intensive care capacity falls below 15 percent, he said.

Statewide travel will also be temporarily halted, Newsom said, but schools will remain open, and he encouraged people to visit parks and exercise.

Restaurants can continue to

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Newsom issues regional stay-at-home order based on ICU capacity to battle record Covid surge in California

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Millions of Californians may soon find themselves under a regional stay-at-home order once again under new restrictions announced Thursday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.



a group of people in a room: FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, medical personnel prone a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. The raging coronavirus pandemic has prompted Los Angeles County to impose a lockdown to prevent the caseload from spiraling into a hospital crisis but the order stops short of a full business shutdown that could cripple the holiday sale season. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

© Jae C. Hong/AP
FILE – In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, medical personnel prone a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. The raging coronavirus pandemic has prompted Los Angeles County to impose a lockdown to prevent the caseload from spiraling into a hospital crisis but the order stops short of a full business shutdown that could cripple the holiday sale season. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The new stay-at-home order will take hold in regions where hospitals are feeling the squeeze on capacity to treat the incoming surge of Covid-19 patients. A strict stay-at home order will go into effect 48 hours after hospital intensive care unit capacity drops below 15% in one of

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UK care home residents to miss out on first round of Covid vaccinations

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Hundreds of thousands of care home residents will miss out on the first wave of Covid vaccinations when the rollout begins next week, the government has admitted.



Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The fragility of the newly licensed Pfizer vaccine means it will first be delivered only in hospitals. The news came hours after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises ministers, said care home residents and staff should be prioritised.

Boris Johnson described the distribution of the vaccine as “an immense logistical challenge” and said it would take months before all of the most vulnerable were protected.

Lorries containing freezer boxes of about 1,000 vials held at -70 to -80C were being loaded at the Pfizer plant in Belgium on Wednesday as news of Britain’s regulatory approval came through.

The boxes will go to a national hub in the Midlands before being

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Gavin Newsom, London Breed among California Democrats to flout covid restaurant restrictions

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“This is a serious health emergency, and we must take it seriously,” she said, casting one of three votes that would again prohibit the practice across the county of more than 10 million people.

Hours later, according to KTTV, she was spotted dining alfresco at an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif.

Kuehl is one of at least four high-profile California Democrats who have landed in hot water in recent days for failing to abide by their own public health recommendations.

Despite pleading with residents to stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus — which has killed at least 269,000 people in the United States — those very same lawmakers have ignored state and local rules, attending large holiday gatherings or indoor birthday celebrations. In one case, two politicians’ dinners took place on consecutive nights at the same pricey restaurant in Napa Valley.

Their transgressions come as infections are

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New York City advises elderly to remain at home as COVID cases grow

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ABC News Corona Virus Government. Response

New York is also facing a blood shortage.

December 1, 2020, 9:22 PM

5 min read

New York City officials are advising senior citizens to avoid as much nonessential travel outside of their households as the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations jump.

The city’s Health Department issued an advisory Tuesday that elderly and New Yorkers with underlying health conditions should “limit activities outside the home, except leaving home to travel to work or school, or for essential purposes including medical care, grocery shopping or pharmacy necessities.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said the coronavirus situation is getting worse and cases are expected to increase in the coming weeks. Chokshi said the city’s hospitals have more than 1,100 COVID-19 patients.

“That’s twice as many as were hospitalized less than three weeks ago and the highest number

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Health-care workers and nursing homes should get covid vaccine first

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Residents and employees of long-term care facilities were prioritized because they account for nearly 40 percent of deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The recommendations for the highest priority groups, known as phase 1a, will be sent to CDC Director Robert Redfield, who also informs Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. If the recommendations are approved, they will become official CDC recommendations on immunization in the United States and provide guidance to state officials, who are scrambling to meet a Friday deadline for vaccine distribution planning.

The committee voted 13 to 1 to prioritize the two groups. Helen Keipp Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, was the sole dissenting vote. Unease over the recommendations centered on the inclusion of long-term care residents, with several panel members saying there was insufficient vaccine safety and efficacy data to support immunizing them right away.

Talbot said

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City advises elderly to remain at home as COVID cases grow

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New York City officials are advising senior citizens to avoid as much nonessential travel outside of their households as the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations jump.



A man wears a face mask while walking in Times Square in New York, Nov. 18, 2020.

© Wang Ying/Xinhua via Newscom
A man wears a face mask while walking in Times Square in New York, Nov. 18, 2020.

The city’s Health Department issued an advisory Tuesday that elderly and New Yorkers with underlying health conditions should “limit activities outside the home, except leaving home to travel to work or school, or for essential purposes including medical care, grocery shopping or pharmacy necessities.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said the coronavirus situation is getting worse and cases are expected to increase in the coming weeks. Chokshi said the city’s hospitals have more than 1,100 COVID-19 patients.

MORE: Experts fear for elderly amid virus surge in state with most nursing homes

“That’s twice as many as were

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49ers will play 2 games in Arizona due to COVID impact in Santa Clara

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CLOSE

The San Francisco 49ers have come to an agreement with the NFL to play their next two home games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale because the team is unable to play or practice in their home stadium for at least the next three weeks due to COVID restrictions in Santa Clara County.

The first game in Arizona is at 6:15 p.m. Monday against the Buffalo Bills, followed on Dec. 13 against Washington. The 49ers are scheduled to play at the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 20.

It all worked out for the 49ers to relocate to Arizona because there were no conflicts with the Cardinals, who play host to the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday and are at the New York Giants the following week.

“As far as San Fran goes, that’s obviously a challenging situation for them” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said on Monday. “I’m glad it worked

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New California stay-home order weighed as COVID hospitalizations surge

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By Sharon Bernstein and Steve Gorman



a man holding a sign: People wear masks as they walk along the side walk during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in California

© Reuters/MIKE BLAKE
People wear masks as they walk along the side walk during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday he may impose tougher coronavirus restrictions over the next two days, including a possible stay-at-home order, to counter surging COVID-19 hospitalizations that threaten to overwhelm intensive care units.

Newsom said projections show ICU admissions are on track to exceed statewide capacity by mid-December unless public health policies and social behavior patterns are altered to curb the spread of the virus.

Last week, Newsom instituted a curfew barring social gatherings and other non-essential activities across most of the state between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. daily.

The curfew and other constraints placed on social and economic activity across California, a state of some 40 million people, already represent some of the

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Doubts raised over rapid Covid tests in plan for English care home visits

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A flagship government scheme to use rapid testing to allow care home visitors to hug loved ones before Christmas has been dealt a serious blow after a council instructed providers not to use the tests, citing fears that they lack accuracy.



Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, had promised that by Christmas rapid testing that produces results in less than an hour would be rolled out to care homes across England to end “heartbreaking” restrictions on visits.

But Sheffield city council has told operators that “when used in practice, the performance … appears to show an unacceptably high risk of not correctly detecting infected individuals”.

In an instruction that care homes predicted would upset families whose hopes of a visit had been raised by the announcement of testing, the council told them “not to use lateral flow test kits … until we

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