Washington State Gets New Virus Restrictions

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has announced new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next four weeks as part of the state’s efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus

The Latest: Washington state gets new virus restrictionsBy The Associated PressThe Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has announced new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next four weeks as part of the state’s efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, a host of businesses must close their indoor services, including fitness facilities and gyms, bowling centers, and movie theaters.

Retail stores, including grocery stores, must limit indoor capacity to 25%. Indoor social gatherings with people from more than one household are also prohibited unless attendees have either quarantined for 14 days before the gathering or tested negative for COVID-19 and have quarantined for seven days.

By Wednesday, restaurants and bars will be limited to outdoor dining and to-go service.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Joe Biden’s science advisors to meet soon with vaccine makers

— North Dakota nurses are worried about working with infected but asymptomatic colleagues

— Second round of lockdowns brings misery for Europe’s Michelin-rated chefs

— Protesters in French cities called for the lifting of a virus ban on religious services

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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia has set another weekly record for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, even with one day left to count.

Health statistics released Sunday show there were 3,718 positive cases reported statewide from Nov. 9 through Saturday. That six-day mark broke the record of 2,696 cases set for the seven days in the previous week.

The state set three daily marks for confirmed cases in the past week, including a record 821 cases on Friday. Daily records have been set seven times in the past three weeks. There had been no daily records set in the six weeks prior to that, an indication of the recent surge in the virus.

Gov. Jim Justice on Friday announced that face coverings will be required at all times in businesses and other indoor spaces. He first issued an indoor mask order in July that did not require masks if social distancing was possible. The new mandate requires masks at all times except when eating or drinking.

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LONDON — One of the scientists behind the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer says he’s confident that it could halve the transmission of the virus, resulting in a “dramatic” curb of the virus’ spread.

The chief executive of Germany’s BioNTech said Sunday that it is “absolutely essential” to have a high vaccination rate before next autumn to ensure a return to normal life next winter. He says if everything continues to go well, deliveries of the vaccine will start late this year or early next year.

He says he’s confident that transmission between people will be reduced by perhaps 50% through a highly effective vaccine.

Pfizer and BioNTech said last week that interim results showed the vaccine was 90% effective.

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WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s scientific advisers will meet with vaccine makers in coming days as the presidential transition remains stalled because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that he lost the election.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, says the delayed handoff is especially problematic during a public health crisis.

Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been through multiple presidential transitions during 36 years of government service. He likens the process to runners passing on the baton in a relay race, saying, “You don’t want to stop and then give it to somebody. You want to just essentially keep going.”

The president-elect’s outreach to the vaccine manufacturers comes as the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. has entered perhaps its most dangerous phase. The seven-day rolling average for new daily cases stood at 145,400 on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That means the U.S. is adding about 1 million new cases a week, and deaths averaged 820 a day as of Saturday, a 33% increase in just two weeks.

Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, says the consultations with pharmaceutical companies will begin this week.

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BISMARCK, N.D. — With coronavirus cases soaring in North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum moved to allow the state’s beleaguered hospitals to use infected but asymptomatic doctors and nurse to treat COVID-19 patients.

Although hospitals pushed for the right, many nurses say it will make their lives even harder than they’ve been during the pandemic.

Adam Johnston, an emergency room nurse in Fargo, says it will be impossible to not wonder if other nurses in the break room or cafeteria might be infected.

And nurses also questioned why the Republican governor would make such a move when for months he resisted more common steps such as statewide orders requiring masks or limiting the size of gatherings.

Experts say other states are weighing moves similar to Burgum’s.

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PARIS — With banners reading “Let us Pray” and “We Want Mass,” Catholic protesters held scattered demonstrations around France on Sunday to demand that authorities relax virus lockdown measures to allow religious services.

In the western city of Nantes, hundreds gathered in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, some kneeling on the rain-soaked pavement, according to local broadcaster France Bleu. Similar gatherings were reported or planned in the eastern city of Strasbourg, in Bordeaux in the southwest, and outside the Saint-Louis Cathedral in Versailles.

With more confirmed virus cases than any other European country, predominantly Catholic France banned Mass and other religious services for the month of November as part of nationwide partial lockdown measures aimed at reining in infections and relieving pressure on hospitals. Churches and other religious sites remain open for individual visitors to come and pray.

France’s interior minister is scheduled to meet with religious leaders Monday to discuss when and how services could again be permitted, notably amid pressure to allow Christmas ceremonies.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greek health authorities on Sunday 71 deaths from COVID-19, which is a single-day record for the country.

There were also 1,698 new confirmed cases, which was significantly lower than in recent days.

Greece has had 74,205 confirmed cases and 1,106 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

A record 392 patients are on ventilators and authorities are concerned over the rapid filling of intensive care units.

The country is now in its second lockdown and a nighttime curfew is being enforced.

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ROME — Italy’s day-to-day new caseload of confirmed coronavirus infections decreased by a few thousand on Sunday, but roughly 32,000 fewer swab tests to detect the virus were conducted over the previous 24 hours.

With almost 34,000 new cases, Italy’s total of confirmed infections during the pandemic rose to 1,178,529, according to Health Ministry figures. Weekends frequently see smaller numbers of tests performed.

With 546 deaths since the previous day, the nation’s COVID-19 death toll rose to 45,229.

Two more regions, which include the cities of Naples and Florence, on Sunday joined several other ’’red zones” in Italy, beginning at least 15 days of restrictions, including a ban on leaving one’s town and the shuttering of non-essential shops.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — A Cyprus court has ordered nine people detained for three days on suspicion of smashing store fronts and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at police following a rally against a regional lockdown in the coastal town of Limassol.

Police said Sunday that they have also arrested the 31 year-old organizer of the rally on suspicion of inciting others to commit a criminal offense.

The violence took place after around 1,000 people gathered late Saturday in Limassol to protest a strict, 19-day lockdown that bans all non-essential movement of people, shut bars and restaurants and imposes a 8 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew.

Police said the protest was peaceful, but some people began vandalizing nearby stores and attacking police.

Some 23 people were arrested, of which nine — aged 16 to 27 — were detained. They face rioting, vandalism and conspiracy charges. Three others were charged with attacking and obstructing police and were released. Police said all identified demonstrators who violated mask-wearing and social distancing rules will be fined 300 euros ($355).

Health officials say infections in the country’s two southwestern districts jumped from 28% to 70% of the national average in the last six weeks.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Authorities in Sri Lanka say about 400 inmates from the country’s highly-congested prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 as infected cases are surging in the capital and its suburbs.

Twelve of the 400 are prison officers while the rest are inmates. The cases are detected from five prisons in different parts of the country.

Sri Lankan prisons are highly congested with more than 26,000 inmates crowded in facilities designed to hold about 10,000.

Sri Lanka has seen a fresh outbreak of the disease since last month when two clusters — one centered on a garment factory and other on the fish market — emerged in Colombo and its suburbs. Confirmed cases from just those clusters have grown by Sunday to 13,079 people.

Sri Lanka’s total number of positive cases reached 16,582 on Sunday with 53 fatalities.

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ANTWERP, Belgium — Many a three-star Michelin meal has been put into a takeout box and sent out on Deliveroo scooters, as renowned chefs in Belgium and elsewhere try to scrape through a second pandemic lockdown that is likely to threaten even the lucrative Christmas season.

Sergio Herman, who has run three-star, two-star and many other establishments that have wowed the Michelin powers and the most refined palates around the world, doesn’t really see any positives to come out of working amid the pandemic.

“Sometimes you feel that whatever you built up over the years is slipping like sand through your fingers. It gives you this kind of fear,” he told The Associated Press.

Across much of Europe, exclusive restaurants have lost the precious appeal of the luxury dining experience — from eating several inventive courses, to basking in sommelier tastings, to savoring the after-dinner sweet and having that little extra chat with the chef.

“All that cannot just be replaced by a box and a plastic tray. That is just impossible,” Herman said amid the whirl of his new restaurant, Le Pristine, in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

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NEW DELHI — India has reported 41,100 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the country’s overall tally since the pandemic began to 8.79 million.

The Health Ministry on Sunday also reported 447 deaths in the same period, driving total fatalities to 129,635.

India is second in the world in total reported cases behind the U.S., but daily infections have been on the decline since the middle of September. There has been, however, a resurgence of infections in New Delhi, which has seen a renewed surge in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other Indian state.

On Sunday, New Delhi registered 7,340 new coronavirus cases, including 96 deaths.

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PARIS — The number of coronavirus patients hospitalized in France dropped this weekend for this first time since September, after two weeks of new nationwide lockdown measures aimed at slowing surging infections and easing hospital strains.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care also fell for the first time in six weeks, according to figures released Saturday night, though virus patients still occupy 96% of France’s standard ICU beds.

The number of weekly infections per 100,000 people in France has now been falling for 14 straight days, and some doctors say they’re starting to see signs of relief in over-stretched ICUs.

But it remains too early to say whether the one-day drop in hospital numbers means France has hit the peak in this second surge of the pandemic.

France has reported more virus infections than any European country and has had 44,246 virus-related deaths. The government imposed a nationwide partial lockdown starting Oct. 30 as the second surge hit and could start easing the measures Dec. 1 if the number of virus patients in hospitals shows consistent decline.

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SEATTLE — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has scheduled a news conference for Sunday morning as COVID-19 case numbers soar throughout the Pacific Northwest where he will reportedly detail new restrictions.

Inslee’s office said he would discuss actions to combat the crisis but offered no details. The Seattle Times reports that among Inslee’s announcements will be a ban on indoor service at restaurants and bars and significantly reduced capacity at grocery stores and retail shops.

The newspaper cited industry officials briefed by Inslee’s staff. The Democratic governor will also prohibit all indoor social gatherings. And Inslee will reportedly limit grocery stores and retailers to 25% occupancy.