• AstraZeneca releases trial blueprints despite safety scrutiny

  • AstraZeneca recently revealed details of its large coronavirus vaccine trial on Saturday. However, national polls are finding Americans increasingly apprehensive about accepting a virus vaccine. And scientists inside and outside the government are worried that regulators, pressured by President Trump for results before Election Day (11/3), might release an unproven or unsafe vaccine. Experts have additionally been particularly concerned about AstraZeneca’s trials because of the company’s refusal to provide details about serious neurological illnesses in the participants.

• Argentina’s outbreak grows increasingly severe

  • Argentina currently has one of the worst rates of infection and death despite its strict enforcement of lockdowns. While the virus appears to be slowing in Brazil and Peru, other areas where the death rates have consistently been high, Argentina’s outbreak is accelerating. Despite daily cases stabilizing in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, many are growing beyond it and beginning to spread to more remote, and often poorer, provinces. This poses to be an even bigger problem due to the lack of medical facilities in those areas. The country’s test positivity rate has hovered around 50 percent for weeks, meaning that almost one out of every two tests for the virus is positive.

• Canadian COVID-19 Gargle Test

  • The province of British Columbia recently launched a gargle method of COVID testing for 4-19-yearolds. British Columbia’s provincial health officer stated that this method is “one of the first of its kind around the world.” The BC Center for Disease Control additionally said the new test is just as accurate as tests using a nasal swab and is much easier to administer for children. COVID-19 testing is in high demand in Canada as the majority of students are now attending school in person and thus BC has hopes to expand testing to adults as well.

• Where do we stand in terms of vaccine development?

  • Yesterday, President Trump made a statement that the United States will have enough COVID-19 vaccines for every American by April 2021
  • Experts, however, have asked to take his words with caution. The former acting director of the CDC, Richard Besser, stated that “the idea that anyone can say there’s going to be a completed coronavirus vaccine before the studies have even been completed is stunning.” He also mentioned that he is optimistic about the development of a vaccine overall due to the current large efforts.
  • The FDA head is confident that they’ll produce a safe vaccine, stating that they have “unwavering confidence and trust” in the agency’s ability to approve a safe vaccine.
  • CDC Director Robert Redfield stated that the American public could expect to start seeing results from a widespread COVID-19 vaccine in the second or third quarter of 2021. He further mentioned that even if a vaccine was released today, it would take 6-9 months for enough people to receive to create immunity.
  • Trump responded to this by stating that he thinks “He [Redfield] made a mistake when he said that. It's just incorrect information."

• The federal government released plans on Wednesday detailing how it will distribute COVID-19 vaccines after approval. Operation Warp Speed aims to have vaccines moving to administration sites within 24 hours of an FDA license or emergency use authorization free of charge.

Official WHO Statistics Worldwide

• New Cases - 315,919
• Confirmed Cases - 30,683,828
• Deaths - 955,841
• Recoveries - 20,921,799

United States of America

• New Cases - 47,136
• Confirmed Cases - 6,788,238
• Deaths - 199,146
• Recoveries - 3,689,081

Countries w/ Most Cases

1. United States 2. India
2. Brazil
3. Russian Federation
4. Colombia