October 22 coronavirus news

By Joshua Berlinger, Adam Renton, Tara John and Ed Upright, CNN

Updated 12:00 a.m. ET, October 23, 2020
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11:31 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Data shows Covid-19 treatment remdesivir isn't a "home run," says former vaccine director 

From CNN Health’s Lauren Mascarenhas

One vial of the drug Remdesivir lies during a press conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany on April 8.
One vial of the drug Remdesivir lies during a press conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany on April 8. Ulrich Perrey/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Data on the Covid-19 drug remdesivir show that it has only modest benefits and isn’t a “home run,” former US Health and Human Services official-turned whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright said Thursday.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir Thursday to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients -- the first drug to be approved for coronavirus. 

Bright said it’s not an impressive drug.

“It's important to note that even the data that we saw in the United States from that drug show that the benefit was modest,” Bright told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “It wasn't a home run. It wasn't a remarkable improvement in terms of mortality, or even the lengthening or shortening of the length of hospital stay, but it did show some marginal benefit.”

World Health Organization-sponsored global study found that remdesivir did not help Covid-19 patients survive or recover faster. 

“The FDA clearly has reviewed all of the data that they have available to them from the company to review the efficacy and safety of that drug,” Bright said. 

“It’s not too surprising that another, perhaps even larger, well-controlled study from the WHO would refute that data,” he added.

Bright said that it’s likely that larger studies, like the WHO’s, would show that the marginal benefit of remdesivir may become even more marginal, depending on the population of those using the drug.

10:56 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Coronavirus outbreak reported at Los Angeles megachurch that defied public health orders

From CNN's Sarah Moon

Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as seen on September 4.
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as seen on September 4. Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

A coronavirus outbreak has been reported at a Los Angeles megachurch that has defied the county’s public health orders and held indoor services since August.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Thursday confirmed three positive cases linked to Grace Community Church in the Sun Valley neighborhood of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.

Over the past two months, Grace Community Church was cited nine times by the public health department for failing to comply with health officer orders, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s website.

Grace Community Church did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for a comment. 

Despite the county’s public health order, which prohibits indoor services in any house of worship, Grace Community Church announced in July it would remain open to congregants for in-person worship.

“It is apparent that those original projections of death were wrong and the virus is nowhere near as dangerous as originally feared,” the church claimed on its website.

Instead of listening to government or public health officials, the church said it would choose to follow “the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“We gladly choose to obey Him,” the church added.

While no further details of the outbreak or investigation were provided, the public health department said it will “work closely with the church to support outbreak management strategies that can limit transmission of COVID-19.”

Religious groups have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in several countries, including South Korea.

10:26 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Vaccine advisers urge FDA to encourage diversity in Covid-19 vaccine trials 

From CNN Health’s Maggie Fox and Elizabeth Cohen

A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the agency's headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, on July 20.
A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the agency's headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, on July 20. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Vaccine advisers are urging the US Food and Drug Administration to do as much as possible to encourage pharmaceutical companies to enroll diverse populations in their clinical trials of experimental coronavirus vaccines. 

Diversity is needed to make sure the vaccine works in the groups hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and to ensure that those groups trust the vaccine enough to get it once one or more are available, members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee said at the group’s first meeting to discuss a potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Luigi Notarangelo, chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology And Microbiology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Black Americans already have a strong distrust of vaccines and drug companies. If minorities don’t enroll in vaccine trials in enough numbers, “their trust will diminish even further,” Notarangelo said.

“Perhaps the White population will be protected and we will only see severe cases of Covid among the Blacks, which would be a total disaster from a social standpoint,” he said.
“I don’t know what could be done but something should be done to facilitate inclusion of a vulnerable population, in this case, the Black population.”

NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that about 37% of the volunteers in coronavirus vaccine clinical trials should be Latino, and 27% be Black.

Vaccine maker Moderna said Thursday it has enrolled 30,000 volunteers in its coronavirus vaccine trial and says 20% of them are Latino and 10% are Black.

Vaccines and medicines can work differently in different racial and ethnic groups, so diversity in clinical trials is important.  

Black people are 2.6 times more likely to get Covid-19 than White people, and Latinos are 2.8 times more likely to get Covid-19 than White people, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

10:05 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Greater Manchester has entered England's toughest level of lockdown restrictions

From CNN's Jonny Hallam

Empty tables and chairs on the eve of new Tier-3 Covid-19 restrictions in Manchester, England, on October 22.
Empty tables and chairs on the eve of new Tier-3 Covid-19 restrictions in Manchester, England, on October 22. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The northern city of Manchester is now under the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions in England following the collapse of testy talks between local leaders and the national government earlier this week.

The "very high" Covid alert level -- which came into force in the early hours of Friday morning local time -- covers the Greater Manchester area, home to more than 2.5 million people.

The restrictions mean that people living in Greater Manchester are not allowed to socialize inside houses with anyone they do not live with, nor meet in private gardens. Outdoor social events in places like parks are limited to groups of six.

All pubs, bars, gyms, and casinos that don't serve food must close. People can continue to visit restaurants and pubs that serve "substantial meals," but can only eat there with people that they live with. 

In addition, Mancunians have been told to avoid all but the most essential travel outside of the Greater Manchester region. 

9:56 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Convalescent plasma did not reduce Covid-19 deaths or keep patients from severe illness in new study

From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard

A bag of blood plasma from a donor who has recovered from Covid-19 is seen at The Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on October 5.
A bag of blood plasma from a donor who has recovered from Covid-19 is seen at The Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on October 5. Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty Images

In a new study, convalescent plasma did not reduce deaths among Covid-19 patients or prevent moderate disease from becoming severe.

The study, conducted in India and published in the medical journal the BMJ on Thursday, suggests that "as a potential treatment for patients with moderate Covid-19, convalescent plasma showed limited effectiveness."

Convalescent plasma is the antibody-rich serum taken from the blood of people who recovered from Covid-19. The idea is that the plasma can help the immune response of patients still fighting the disease.

In August, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of convalescent plasma as a treatment option for hospitalized Covid-19 patients. However, data were still being collected in randomized controlled trials -- the gold standard -- to study the safety and effectiveness of the treatment.

Last month, a National Institutes of Health panel said there's no evidence backing the use of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients and that doctors should not treat it as a standard of care until more study has been done.

Read the full story:

7:34 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Montana reports highest single-day number of new Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Gisela Crespo

Charlotte Skinner, an Emergency Room nurse at St. Peter's Health, speaks at a Covid-19 press call hosted by Gov. Steve Bullock at the State Capitol, Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Charlotte Skinner, an Emergency Room nurse at St. Peter's Health, speaks at a Covid-19 press call hosted by Gov. Steve Bullock at the State Capitol, Tuesday, Oct. 20. Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP

Montana reported Thursday 932 new Covid-19 cases, the highest number of daily new cases since the pandemic began, according to state data.

The previous record for daily new cases, 734, was reported on Oct. 14.

"The numbers have gone up exponentially and it's very concerning," said state medical officer Dr. Greg Holzman during a news conference in Billings. 

Holzman added officials are also concerned about hospitals amid the increase in cases.

"A lot of the hospitals are more stressed than they usually are at this time of [the] year and that puts more panic into us, knowing that we're now going into cold and flu season, which is the typical time of the year that hospitals see more people coming through," Holzman said. 

Montana has reported 25,640 coronavirus cases to date and 278 total deaths.

To note: These numbers were released by the Montana Department of Health & Human Services and the state's library and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

5:40 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

White House coronavirus task force reports warn of "deterioration" in Sun Belt, Midwest and Northern states

From CNN's Betsy Klein

CNN has obtained 22 state reports from the White House coronavirus task force this week. The reports show, as CNN has reported all week, a cumulative worsening of cases across the country. 

The task force is warning of surging cases in the Sun Belt, Midwest and Northern states in several reports:

“This time series also shows early signs of deterioration in the Sun Belt and continued deterioration in the Midwest and across the Northern States,” reports for multiple states say, recommending “strong mitigation efforts” including “mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, avoiding crowds in public and social gatherings in private.”

New this week: the reports now show charts with hospital admission data. Next week, the reports say, there will be personal protective equipment data. 

There are at least 31 states in the task force-defined “red zone” for cases.

Here are some state-specific findings:

  • Vermont, still in the yellow zone, is the state with the lowest new case rate in the nation. There was a cluster of cases “among participants of recreational hockey and broomball leagues.” There is “cause for concern given the recent uptick in the state,” the task force warned, calling for increasing “public education about social distancing.”
  • North Dakota has the highest rate of new cases in the country. “There is no substantial improvement in North Dakota. There must be increased mitigation,” the report said.
  • The task force is sounding the alarm on “early deterioration” in gains against the virus in Alabama and said it “must be addressed aggressively as the spread is very broad based in rural and urban areas.”
  • In Louisiana, there is “very early evidence of increasing test positivity and cases.”
  • In Ohio, there is “significant reemergence of community spread.”
  • In Illinois, there is “high and worsening transmission affecting the entire state” after “sharp” increases in cases and test positivity over the last week.
  • Delaware, the task force said, “remains vulnerable” and is “at an important inflection point,” calling on the state to increase social distancing until cases decline.
  •  There is concern in Utah, which has the sixth highest case rate, about large gatherings: “Super-spreader events are still likely in areas where social distancing isn’t practiced and use of face coverings is low; impose or recommend restriction on the size of public or social gatherings to limit the ongoing possibility of such events.”
  •  Colorado, the state’s task force report said, is “at a critical juncture” that will depend on “increased observation of social distancing mitigation measures.”
  •  California and Maryland, meanwhile, won praise from the task force for “strong success with the gradated series of mitigation measures” and a “well-developed, gradated set of social distancing measures,” respectively.
4:24 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Remdesivir receives FDA approval to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients

From CNN's Maggie Fox

A bottle containing the drug Remdesivir is held by a health worker at the Institute of Infectology of Kenezy Gyula Teaching Hospital of the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary, on October 15.
A bottle containing the drug Remdesivir is held by a health worker at the Institute of Infectology of Kenezy Gyula Teaching Hospital of the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary, on October 15. Zsolt Czegledi/MTI/AP

The antiviral remdesvir has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients hospitalized with Covid-19, Gilead Sciences announced Thursday.

The drug, sold under the brand name Veklury, has been used under emergency use authorization (EUA) in the US. It is the first drug to be approved in the US for treating Covid-19.

“In the United States, Veklury is indicated for adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kg) for the treatment of Covid-19 requiring hospitalization,” the company said in a statement. “Veklury should only be administered in a hospital or in a healthcare setting capable of providing acute care comparable to inpatient hospital care.”

Some context: Earlier this month, a World Health Organization-sponsored global study found remdesivir did not help patients survive or even recover faster, but a US study found the infused drug shortened recovery time for some patients by about a third.

4:36 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Emergency approval of a Covid-19 vaccine won't stop or undermine clinical trials, FDA official says

From CNN's Jacqueline Howard

If one of the experimental coronavirus vaccines gets emergency use authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration, clinical trials examining the safety and efficacy of that vaccine will continue as planned, a senior FDA official said Thursday.

The FDA has said it would consider EUA for coronavirus vaccines in the works – a quicker route to getting one distributed than full approval would be. But that would mean beginning vaccination of the populace before clinical trials have finished. Some people have worried that would mean the clinical trials would end before all the data was collected.

Dr. Doran Fink, deputy director of the FDA’s division of vaccines and related products applications, said that won’t happen. Companies still will have to continue their formal clinical trials to get full licensing approval, Fink told a meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

"Continuation of placebo-controlled follow up after emergency use authorization will be important, and may actually be critical to ensure that additional safety and effectiveness data are accrued to support submission of a licensure application as soon as possible following an emergency use authorization," Fink said.

The FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research does not consider the authorization of a vaccine as reason to "unblind" ongoing trials and offer the vaccine to volunteers who received a placebo, Fink said.

“CBER does not consider issuance of an EUA for a Covid-19 vaccine, in and of itself, as grounds to unblind ongoing clinical trials and offer vaccine to placebo recipients,” Fink said.