Coronavirus live updates: Chris Christie speaks out after contracting COVID-19

October 16, 2020October 16, 2020 WKXA

Myriam Borzee/iStock

By MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 38.9 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has varied from country-to-country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica.

The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7.9 million diagnosed cases and at least 217,700 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 868,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 837,000 cases and over 744,000 cases, respectively.

More than 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 potential vaccines in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:

Oct 16, 11:11 am
Governor surges state resources for COVID-19 response

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Division of Emergency Management surge in resources to support the COVID-19 response in Texas.

Resources include medical personnel, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment for the Panhandle and South Plains areas.

DSHS has deployed 171 medical personnel to these communities, and an additional 100 personnel will arrive by Sunday. DSHS has also deployed 100 IV pumps, 56 ventilators, and 25 oxygen concentrators to the region.

“As the Amarillo and Lubbock communities see a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations, the State of Texas is providing support to hospitals throughout these two regions,” said Governor Abbott. “The additional medical personnel, supplies, and PPE surged to the Panhandle and South Plains will help these communities care for patients and contain the spread of this virus.”

ABC News’ Matthews Furhman contributed to this report.

Oct 16, 9:32 am
Czech Republic reports nearly 10,000 new cases, setting another record

The Czech Republic confirmed 9,721 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, its highest single-day rise yet.

The previous record of 9,544 new cases was set a day earlier, meaning it’s the second straight day that the country has reported its highest increase in infections.

The cumulative total now stands at 149,010 cases with 1,230 deaths, according to the Czech health ministry. Almost 50,000 of those cases were registered last week.

More than 84,000 cases were active Friday, including 2,920 patients who remained hospitalized for COVID-19, while over 63,000 have recovered from the disease, according to the health ministry data.

The Czech Republic has the highest rate of COVID-19 infection in Europe. Over the past two weeks, the country of 10.7 million people has reported 701.9 cases per 100,000 population, according to data published Friday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Czech government said hospitals could reach full capacity around the end of the month due to growing number of COVID-19 patients. Over the weekend, the Czech military will start building a field hospital in Prague that will be able to house 500 patients.

Oct 16, 9:06 am
New cases and deaths are both on the rise in US, HHS memo says

The number of new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United States increased by double digits in week-over-week comparisons, while the number of deaths is also on the rise, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Thursday night.

The memo, which is circulated among the highest levels of the federal government and is used to determine daily priorities for the agencies working on a COVID-19 response, said 38 U.S. states and territories are in an upward trajectory of new infections, while eight jurisdictions are at a plateau and 10 others are in a downward trend.

There were 366,455 new cases confirmed during the period of Oct. 8-Oct. 14, a 16.4% increase from the previous week. There were also 4,893 fatalities from COVID-19 recorded during the same period, a 3.1% increase compared with the week prior, according to the memo.

The national positivity rate for COVID-19 tests dropped from 6% to 5% in week-to-week comparisons. Meanwhile, 24% of hospitals nationwide have more than 80% of beds full in their intensive care units. That figure was 17%-18% during the summertime peak, the memo said.

Arkansas saw its death toll from COVID-19 increase by 25% during the week ending Oct. 11. Case rates continue to rise in rural parts of the state, according to the memo.

A review of death certificates in Georgia revealed that while Black residents make up 30% of the state’s population, they account for 48% of the 7,416 deaths from COVID-19 to date. Just over 82.4% of ICU beds and 81.3% of inpatient beds were occupied in Georgia during the period of Oct. 5-11, the memo said.

In Iowa, 7% of new cases are being reported in the 18-40 age group. COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state reached an all-time high on Oct. 7, with 449 reported admissions, according to the memo.

Kentucky broke its record for weekly case count on Oct. 1 for the third straight week, the memo said.

New Mexico saw its number of new cases increase 53.3% in the week ending Oct. 11, compared to the week prior. The Albuquerque area experienced a relative increase of 89.5% in new cases between Oct. 4 and Oct. 11, according to the memo.

Oct 16, 8:46 am
After contracting COVID-19, Chris Christie admits he ‘made a mistake’ not wearing a mask

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke exclusively to ABC News on Friday morning for the first time since he tested positive for COVID-19 and was released from the hospital.

“It hits you like a freight train.” Christie told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Good Morning America. “It all happened very, very quickly. Within 24 hours, I went from feeling absolutely fine to being in the intensive care unit.”

Christie, who has asthma, spent seven days in the ICU while battling COVID-19. He said he received an antibody treatment in combination with the antiviral medication remdesivir early on in the course of his illness.

“The last two or three days, I’ve really kind of turned around in terms of being able to recover and getting a lot of my energy back,” he said. “So I’m not yet 100%, but I’m about a fighting 80%.”

Christie admitted he “was wrong” and “made a mistake” in not wearing a face mask while recently helping President Donald Trump prepare for the debate.

“I was led to believe that all the people that I was interacting with at the White House had been tested and it gave you a false sense of security, and it was a mistake,” he said. “I was doing it right for seven months and avoided the virus. I let my guard down for a couple days inside the White House grounds and it cost me unfortunately in a significant way.”

Christie urged the public to wear masks, saying, “there is no downside to you wearing masks and, in fact, there can be a great deal of upside.”

“I think no matter what you’re doing, whether you’re at a rally for your preferred candidate, whether you’re out at the supermarket, whether you’re at a protest, no matter what you’re doing, you should have a mask on and you should try to remain socially distant from folks,” he said. “I did it for seven months, George, and I stayed healthy. I didn’t do it for four days and I wound up in the ICU.”

Oct 16, 7:23 am
Russia’s daily case count tops 15,000 for first time

Russia confirmed another 15,150 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, its highest daily tally yet.

It’s the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that Russia has registered more than 15,000 cases in a single day. The latest daily case count is nearly 1,400 more than the previous day.

More than 33% of the newly confirmed cases were reported in the capital, Moscow, the epicenter of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, according to Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

An additional 232 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered in the past 24 hours, down from the national record of 286 set the previous day. The cumulative totals now stand at 1,369,313 cases and 23,723 deaths, according to the country’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Russia has been breaking its own records for daily case counts and deaths almost every day since Oct. 9. The country of 145 million people has the fourth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India and Brazil.

Oct 16, 6:37 am
Germany sees highest single-day increase in infections

Germany confirmed 7,334 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, its highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic.

It’s the first time Germany has surpassed 7,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day, and it marks the second straight day that the country has broken its own record for the daily tallies.

An additional 24 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered Thursday. The cumulative totals now stands at 348,557 cases and 9,734 deaths, according to the latest data from the country’s public health institute.

Until this week, Germany’s highest recorded figure was nearly 6,300 cases on March 28, according to data published by the Robert Koch Institute. While testing has increased since then, the country is among several in Europe that have seen a sharp uptick in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Germany’s federal and state governments agreed to toughen rules on wearing face masks and to have bars close early in areas where infections are high.

Oct 16, 5:47 am
US reports over 63,000 new cases in highest daily count since August

There were 63,610 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Thursday, the country’s highest daily tally since Aug. 14, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest daily tally is up by more than 4,000 from the previous day but still under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period.

An additional 904 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Thursday, slightly less than the previous day and down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,980,461 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 217,700 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July. The daily tally of new cases has gradually come down since then but has started to climb again in recent weeks.

The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the United States continued to increase by double digits in week-over-week comparisons, while the number of new deaths from the disease continued to tick downward slightly, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Wednesday night.