Nine million Americans diagnosed with COVID-19

CDC forecasts around 250,000 deaths by Thanksgiving. New (but optional) federal guidelines recommend improved ventilation, social distancing and face coverings.

New federal guidelines to reduce COVID-19 infections emphasize a combination of behavior changes (like social distancing,) administrative controls (like staggered schedules,) and engineering changes (like improved ventilation and workstation configuration.) But these are all voluntary.

Now for the latest COVID-19 news:

• Expect between 243,000 to 256,000 total COVID-19 deaths in the USA by November 21, 2020, according to the CDC’s latest forecast. Only Oklahoma and Mississipi are trending towards fewer cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. As of today, 9 million Americans have been confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 228,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

• The CDC published new guidelines for banks and many other settings. For banks, CDC says encourage use of drive-through tellers, stop using shared desks to write out deposit slips, staff should wear face coverings, and vaults or other high-touch surfaces need new cleaning schedules. Other new or updated guidelines include restaurants, educational institutions, and communities. As with other CDC COVID-19 guidelines, the recommendations are offered “for consideration,” rather than mandates. The guidelines include recommendations on improved ventilation and revised recommendations on surface cleaning and other mitigation strategies.

• Wearable sensors plus testing helps detect COVID-19: Researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute studied 30,529 people to determine whether smartwatches can help detect COVID-19. Their conclusion: yes. Among other factors, those with COVID-19 infections have different activity and sleep patterns from those who are not infected.

• COVID-19 deaths jumped 40% since last week in Europe, according to the BBC.

• Taiwan has reported 200 consecutive days without a new COVID-19 case traced to local sources. The existence of “community spread” is one of the main indicators that distinguishes between controlled and uncontrolled outbreaks.

• This article from June has gotten renewed attention because it clearly depicts how COVID-19 spread in three different settings: an office, a crowded restaurant and a bus.

• The CDC reports that many of the Minnesota health care professionals who got infected with COVID-19 were in high-risk settings without sufficient personal protective equipment.

Keep that distance from your neighbor! And thank you for sharing this newsletter with others who might be interested.