COVID, Isolation and Mental Illness

6 min readNov 21, 2020

The U.S. recorded its highest number of new daily Covid-19 infections and reported record hospitalizations for the 11th straight day, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage amid warnings that the worst is still to come.

The U.S. reported 195,542 new cases for Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, surpassing its last daily record by more than 7,000. That record was set Thursday, when the U.S. reported 187,833 new cases. The country has now recorded more than 11.9 million cases in total.

Health experts and epidemiologists warned the U.S. that with colder weather and the holiday season coming, the worst is yet to come.

Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech on Friday asked U.S. health regulators to permit use of their Covid-19 vaccine, a milestone in months of frantic efforts to find a medicine that could tamp down the pandemic.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tested positive for Covid-19 during the week, a spokesman said. He is the latest member of the Trump family to be infected with the virus.

The nation’s seven-day moving average, which smooths out irregularities in the data, was 165,029 as of Thursday, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The 14-day moving average was 148,660. When the seven-day average is higher than the 14-day average, it indicates cases are on the rise.

The U.S. reported 1,858 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, bringing its total to 254,413. Deaths are also on the rise, with the seven-day average exceeding the 14-day average since Oct. 19, but they are lower than in the first months of the pandemic, as doctors understand better how to treat the disease.

World-wide, more than 57 million people have been infected and more than 1.37 million have died.

Japan on Friday reported 2,427 new cases, breaking its single-day record for the third day in a row, as clusters have erupted in households, elderly homes, offices and bars across the country, with Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi and Hokkaido the hardest hit.

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The coronavirus subcommittee of experts Friday proposed stronger measures be adopted “as soon as possible,” lasting for three weeks. The proposals would see the hardest hit regions excluded from a government campaign to subsidize travel, a review of a campaign to subsidize dining, and requests that restaurants and bars shorten business hours or temporarily close.

South Korea added 386 cases Saturday, with health authorities saying the country has entered its third wave of virus infections. It follows a mass outbreak in late February tied to a mysterious church and a surge in August linked to an anti-government protest.

The Seoul metropolitan area is at the second level of a five-tier social-distancing system, while Suncheon, a city about 250 miles south of Seoul, on Friday became the first municipality to enforce the third stage.

Australia’s Victoria state on Saturday reported a 22nd straight day without a new positive coronavirus diagnosis, prompting the state premier to say he was very confident the Australian Open tennis tournament could be staged in the state’s capital, Melbourne, early next year.

The country on Saturday recorded 13 new positive coronavirus tests. The only locally transmitted case was in South Australia state, where strict lockdown restrictions are easing.

Local authorities had imposed a six-day lockdown of South Australia’s 1.7 million people from midnight Wednesday, only to announce it would end midnight Saturday after they learned the virus had likely been transmitted through close contact between kitchen staff at a pizza parlor. Fears of a more highly infectious strain eased when a man who tested positive for Covid-19 admitted he had lied to contact tracers, and had been working at the restaurant rather than buying food.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, a spokesman said, becoming the latest member of the Trump family to contract the virus.

The younger Mr. Trump has been quarantining since he received his positive result and has been asymptomatic so far, his spokesman said.

President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Barron Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, all contracted the virus earlier this year. The White House and Trump campaign have seen several outbreaks of the virus more recently, with top officials testing positive on Election Day and in the days after.

Every official who has run the Trump campaign’s legal effort to overturn the election outcome has either contracted coronavirus or been exposed to it. David Bossie, who was tapped to lead the effort the week of the election, tested positive two days later. Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, was put in charge last week, but was exposed this week to his son, Andrew, who said Friday he had tested positive.

COVID, Isolation and Mental Illness

Written by Zfugli