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‘We ran out of space.’ Amid Covid-19 surge, an Illinois funeral home director says it’s been hard keeping up with demand

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In November, the home’s numbers nearly doubled.

Founder and funeral director Tim Honquest told CNN affiliate WREX the home received about 54 calls — 26 of which involved Covid-19 cases.
“This month of November was something I’ve never seen before,” he told the affiliate. “It was just crazy.”

With a refrigeration capacity of about 12 deceased, Honquest said the home, which is northeast of Chicago, had to turn a preparation room into a second refrigeration area to keep up.

Tim Honquest

“We ran out of space,” he told the news station. “We literally ran out of space.”

On November 18, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the state, behind heart disease and cancer. Between March and October, the governor had said, the virus took more lives than “the next two highest causes, strokes and accidents, combined.” And the fall surge was quickly proving significantly

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Why California Is Issuing Stay-At-Home Orders Because Of Covid-19 Coronavirus

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Running out of toilet paper is one thing. Running out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds is something completely different.

With the Covid-19 coronavirus continuing to surge, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is now projecting that the state will run out of ICU beds by mid-December. That, obviously, is not a good thing and can’t be solved by simply buying more beds. As a result, on Thursday, the CDPH announced a “Regional Stay-At-Home Order”, which will remain in place for at least the next three weeks.

This Order doesn’t mean that all Californians have to stay at home just yet. Rather, it established thresholds that once crossed will trigger stay-at-home orders. In

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Italy’s Misty COVID-19 Christmas Rules ‘Recommend’ Family Home Dinners, Appeal To ‘Good Sense’

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Italy’s COVID-19 restrictions for the Christmas festivities will likely leave out of the picture the exact number of people allowed to take part in home dinners and gatherings to celebrate and toast to a brighter 2021.

On the other hand, citizens will be requested to stick to celebrating with family members or relatives living under the same roof – aka, the usual people one sees each day. It’s not a rule, as authorities are well aware they can’t force anything inside private homes, let alone the exact number of revelers. Nor can police control what happens in each single Italian dwelling. 

It’s just a strong recommendation, an appeal, to keep out of their house grandparents, friends, distant relatives, boyfriends and girlfriends that aren’t partners already living together.

It’s a blow to the traditional,

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Watch Live: California Governor Gavin Newsom holds press conference as COVID-19 surge could lead to stay-home order

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California Governor Gavin Newsom is holding a press conference Thursday after a record-shattering 20,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state. Newsom has been considering placing nearly all of the state’s 40 million residents under a tough stay-at-home order amid fears that a staggering virus surge could soon swamp the hospital system.

A record 9,300 people are in the hospital, including more than 1,800 in the intensive care unit, leaving the state with fewer than 2,000 available intensive care unit beds.

How to watch California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press conference today 

  • What: California Governor Gavin Newsom holds a press conference
  • Date: Thursday, December 3, 2020 
  • Time: 12 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET)
  • Online stream: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device 

Newsom, who is staying at home after three of his children were exposed to the virus, warned this week that

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Many hospitalized COVID-19 patients will need longer-term care at home

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When COVID-19 patients go home from the hospital, their recovery is often far from over — and many might benefit from home healthcare, a new study suggests.

At a time when U.S. COVID-19 cases are surging and hospitals are running out of room, experts say home healthcare could serve a critical role by allowing some patients to have shorter hospital stays and be monitored at home.

But until now, little has been known about COVID-19 patients’ recovery during home healthcare.

The new study suggests that, at least in New York City, they do well.

Researchers looked at records from more than 1,400 COVID-19 patients who were discharged from New York hospitals into care from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York — a large nonprofit home health agency.

“When they entered home care, these patients were very sick,” said lead researcher Kathryn Bowles, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania

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California stay-at-home order looms as COVID-19 cases explode

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a group of people walking down the street talking on a cell phone: People wait in line Tuesday at a walk-up COVID-19 testing site in San Fernando. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

© (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
People wait in line Tuesday at a walk-up COVID-19 testing site in San Fernando. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

California hit reached another troubling COVID-19 milestone Tuesday, averaging 14,120 cases per day with more than 8,200 hospitalized — both new records.

The continues surge is putting more pressure on state and local officials to take more aggressive action to slow the spread before it overwhelms hospitals. Los Angeles County, which has been particularly hard hit, reported more than 7,500 new cases — the most in a single day. Projections suggest L.A. County could reach 9,000 cases by next week.

Officials have said they would consider a restrictive stay-at-home order if cases kept rising, which is now expected because the Thanksgiving weekend likely spread the virus even more.

What are the options?

It’s possible such an order would

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Healthcare Workers and Elderly Care Home Residents Will Get First Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine, CDC Panel Says

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Frontline healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care facilities will receive the very first COVID-19 vaccinations, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory board recommended Tuesday.





© Getty Images—Javier Zayas


These groups will make up Phase 1A of U.S. vaccine recipients who will receive the first 40 million or so doses that could be available by the end of the year. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing two vaccines, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, for emergency use authorization.

According to the CDC, there are about 21 million healthcare workers, including people who work in hospitals, long term care facilities, home healthcare, pharmacies, emergency medical services as well as in public health, and about 3 million older Americans living in skilled nursing or long term care facilities.

The 13 to 1 vote by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was the first official

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Living with lung cancer and COVID-19

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Like millions of Americans, Sherry Haines has had COVID-19. But Haines has an underlying health condition that made the virus especially risky for her—she has stage 4 lung cancer.



a young girl in a blue shirt: In June, Sherry Haines developed COVID-19 symptoms... in addition to having stage 4 lung cancer. (Photo: Nathalie Cruz for Yahoo Life)

© Provided by Yahoo! Lifestyle
In June, Sherry Haines developed COVID-19 symptoms… in addition to having stage 4 lung cancer. (Photo: Nathalie Cruz for Yahoo Life)

Haines, 50, tells Yahoo Life that she knew something was off in late June when she developed “extreme fatigue,” along with several other symptoms.  “My throat was sore, and I had headaches and muscle aches, I was horribly nauseous and was starting to get chills,” she says. “I just knew that I probably had the virus.”

The Florida resident says she was “a little scared” but notes that her she was otherwise healthy. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and says, while it will never go away, the medication she takes has cleared

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Design-Build Firm Murray Lampert Strategically Grows During COVID-19

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“We implemented safety protocols for our office and in the field, well before shelter in place went into effect,” said Gregg Cantor, President of Murray Lampert.

Making sure the office and jobsites are safe was the company’s number one priority. At the same time, with new software, Murray Lampert enabled staff to work remotely to maintain productivity and improve the client experience.

“I personally called our trade partners to inform them that we were following all protocols and being recognized as an essential business, so we could all continue to work,” says Cantor. “I then contacted all of our clients to make sure that they were comfortable with us working on their projects.  All of Murray Lampert’s approved and were pleased.

Several media outlets featured Murray Lampert and Gregg Cantor as a business that was continuing under COVID-19 restrictions. https://www.10news.com/news/team-10/local-building-industry-adapting-to-covid-19-restrictions

As a member of the City of San Diego

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New York City Urges At-Risk Residents to Stay Home to Avoid Covid-19

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New York City’s health commissioner on Tuesday advised older residents and people with underlying health conditions to avoid nonessential activities outside their homes as the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the city reached a level not seen since early June.

At-risk New Yorkers could still go to the grocery store, work and school, but should limit their interactions with other people, according to city health officials. New Yorkers who live with or care for vulnerable residents were also urged to reduce nonessential activities outside their homes.

Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said at a news conference that the latest data showed the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the city surpassed 1,100, more than double the amount less than three week ago.

“This escalation unfortunately follows a tragically familiar pattern—cases grow, hospitalizations follow, and sadly too many result in critical illness or even death,” Dr. Chokshi said.

The daily share

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