With the post-Thanksgiving surge in full steam, coronavirus cases in San Antonio pushed up to 1,174 on Thursday, a sharp jump of 444 more cases than Wednesday. This brings the seven-day rolling average to 1,063. Just a month ago, the seven-day average — a better gauge of the pandemic’s grip on the community than the daily numbers — was 417 cases.

Source: Metro Health reports 1,174 new cases, six deaths in San Antonio – ExpressNews.com

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly Thursday evening adopted six resolutions in favor of Palestine and the Palestinian people.

• The decision to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees was supported by 169 countries and only two voted against (the Israeli Occupation and the United States), with 62 abstentions (Cameroon, Canada, Kiribati, Madagascar, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau).
• As for the second resolution related to operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 162 states voter for, four countries voted against (Canada, the Israeli Occupation, the Marshall Islands and the United States) and nine countries abstained from voting (Australia, Cameroon, Guatemala, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Solomon Islands).
• The third resolution regarding Palestinian refugee properties and revenues from the UNRWA was supported by 160 countries, five countries voted against (Canada, the Israeli Occupation, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and the United States) and 12 abstained.
• The fourth resolution regarding Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory was supported 150 countries, seven countries voted against (Canada, Hungary, the Israeli Occupation, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and the United States), and 17 countries abstained from voting.

Source: UN General Assembly adopts six resolutions | Roya News

Palestine today recorded 1,743 new Covid-19 cases and 21 fatalities, according to Health Minister Mai al-Kaileh. She announced that 1,743 Palestinians contracted the highly contagious virus and 21 other died of it in the occupied territories. Among the 1,743 new cases, 182 cases were recorded in Hebron governorate, 203 in Jenin, 208 in Nablus, 115 in Tulkarm, 152 in Ramallah and al-Bireh, 38 in Salfit, 35 in Qalqilia, 38 in Tubas, 104 in Bethlehem, 32 in Jerusalem suburbs, 19 in Jericho & the Jordan Valley besides to 617 in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Source: Palestine records 1,743 new Covid-19 cases, 21 fatalities

Source: Indian scientists identify new potential drug treatments for Covid-19 – india news – Hindustan Times

With the 44 new deaths added on Thursday, the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in El Paso is now 1,121.

“We haven’t become numb to it, every death is still heartbreaking and having to give the news to the family that their family member didn’t make it hurts,” said Berenice Monarez, an El Paso nurse practitioner. “Every death hurts from our standpoint.”

During a press conference on Thursday, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said fatality management in the county is still struggling.

“In the past few days, we have seen 102 deaths,” said Samaniego.

Source: El Paso Nurses react to record COVID deaths announced Thursday

Some racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes, such as COVID-19 infection, severe illness, and death. These conditions are known as social determinants of health. Long-standing inequities in social determinants of health that affect these groups, such as poverty and healthcare access, are interrelated and influence a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes.

Source: COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg updated the community about the local response to COVID-19 in the daily briefing Thursday night.

Nirenberg reported 91,394 total COVID-19 cases and 1,412 total deaths in Bexar County, an increase of 1,174 new cases as of Thursday. Six new deaths were reported today.

The 7-day moving average of cases is 1,063.

City officials also reported that 658 patients are hospitalized, 214 are in the intensive care unit and 115 are on ventilators. There are 10% of staffed beds available and 63% of ventilators available.

Source: Coronavirus update San Antonio, Dec. 10: Leaders report 1,174 new COVID-19 cases, 6 new virus-related deaths

Massachusetts health officials reported 5,130 new coronavirus cases Thursday, as daily infection counts remain high in the wake of Thanksgiving, while officials also reported 41 new deaths from the virus.

Thursday’s count of 5,130 cases follows Wednesday’s near-record tally of 5,675 cases. Last Thursday was the highest single-day count for the state — 6,477 cases, of which 680 were backlogged.

Source: Massachusetts coronavirus cases surge 5,130, as positive test rate keeps climbing – Boston Herald

The number of communities in Massachusetts that are now considered high risk for coronavirus infections has increased to 158. State health officials categorize cities and towns as red, green, yellow or grey based on the daily rate of Covid-19 cases.

Source: 158 Communities Considered High Risk For COVID-19 In Mass. – CBS Boston

It likely took just one of the 175 people gathered in February at a Biogen conference at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel to ignite a COVID-19 wildfire. Within a week, attendees began falling ill. More than 99 would ultimately test positive. By then, many of them had hopped aboard planes to head home or even attend other conferences. And the spread only exploded from there.

Between 205,000 and 300,000 COVID-19 cases across the nation and around the world can likely be traced back to the two-day Boston conference, according to Jacob Lemieux, the lead author of a new study published Thursday in the journal Science.

Source: Biogen conference in Boston likely linked to as many as 300,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide, researchers say | Boston.com