What You Need To Know:
With just 22 days until Election Day, the pandemic continues to grow in the U.S., quickly approaching eight million confirmed infections. Cases are on the rise in 39 states and only three are seeing fewer cases.
Hospitalizations in New York have increased by 77 percent compared to the same period last month. Idaho, South Dakota and Wisconsin now have the three highest rates of new infections in the country while Texas is on track to surpass California as the state with the most cases. The U.S. continues to hold the world’s highest death toll, with nearly 216,000 fatalities as of Monday.
Health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, are warning citizens to prepare for more infections as the fall and winter months approach.
MORE ON THE PANDEMIC
Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has halted the Phase 3 clinical trial of its experimental coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.
The company did not say what the unexplained illness was. Trials are typically stopped when illnesses arise as doctors investigate the cause of the illness and if it can be linked to the vaccine.
Last month, AstraZeneca’s vaccine trial was paused due to a neurological complication in a volunteer in Britain.
Four members of Pope Francis’ Vatican Swiss Guard have tested positive for Covid-19. Nearly all of the guards, who are experiencing symptoms, are single men who live in barracks just inside the Vatican gates.
