Illinois and Ohio add restrictions as pandemic hits Midwest

Meanwhile, Ohio residents will be required to stay indoors between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for a three-week period beginning Thursday.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said the measure is needed to curb the spread of the virus after more than 2,300 new cases were reported on Tuesday.

“We believe this will help reduce the COVID-19 spread,” DeWine said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “I’m also asking each Ohioan, every day, to do at least one thing that reduces your contact with others.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced Tuesday evening that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Grassley, 87, announced earlier in the day that he was quarantining after finding out that he had been exposed to the coronavirus. “I’ve tested positive for coronavirus,” Grassley tweeted. “I’ll b following my doctors’ orders/CDC guidelines & continue to quarantine.”

The Business Roundtable, one of the biggest business groups in Washington, cautioned Tuesday against a national shutdown of the economy to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as advisers to President-elect Joe Biden have floated.

“Our view is that a full national shutdown is not necessary under the circumstances,” said Joshua Bolten, the president and CEO of the group, adding that it “is likely to be overkill because it’s not necessary to protect public safety.”

Retail sales grew for the sixth consecutive month in October, buoyed by soaring online sales. Brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants are still suffering from the pandemic.

House and Senate leaders have not talked to each other about a deal to pass a coronavirus aid package, despite a desire by both parties to clear a measure in the lame-duck session.

“We’ve had no private discussion about this,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters Tuesday.

Democrats issued a new letter shortly after McConnell’s remarks, calling on him to negotiate a deal.

But the two parties are showing no movement toward each other that would bridge the wide gap between their two plans to provide more federal aid.

Seventy-one percent of people in the United States see in-person gatherings as more of a risk than it did before, according to a new Axios/Ipsos poll. That’s up 9 percentage points since this time last month. The poll was conducted from Nov. 13 to 16, surveying 1,092 adults.

At the beginning of the pandemic, concern over gathering with friends and family started out high. Then, concern dipped to its lowest point in early June but has steadily increased since. The rapid increase in concern may reflect the spikes in coronavirus cases happening in states across the country.

A new study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, suggests that immunity to the coronavirus may last years. Researchers found that the amount of “B Cells” in patients infected with the coronavirus had actually increased six to eight months after infection. B cells are a type of “memory cell” in the immune system that remembers a pathogen. If a person is reinfected with a pathogen, the B cells will then produce antibodies to fight it.

Previous research had found that the number of people with detectable coronavirus antibodies had fallen 26% in three months, suggesting that immunity to the virus was short-lived. However, it is common for antibodies to decline, according to immunologists. Antibodies are just one part of the human body’s immune response.

Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology and one of the researchers on the study, suggested that the increase in B cells was particularly good news.

“That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease, severe disease, for many years,” Crotty told the New York Times.

The results also suggest that a coronavirus vaccine may have long-lasting effects.

Mouthwash may become another coronavirus preventive measure. A new study from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom found that certain types of mouthwashes containing 0.07% of a substance called cetylpyridinium chloride eradicated the virus in laboratory tests.

While the research is promising, it has not yet been peer reviewed. Nor did it look at whether mouthwash kills the coronavirus in the saliva of actual COVID-19 patients. Cardiff University is conducting a clinical trial on the effect of mouthwash on actual patients at University Hospital of Wales. Results are expected early next year.

A federal prison in Louisiana that experienced a coronavirus outbreak did not isolate inmates infected with the virus, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general.

A new report published on Tuesday revealed that the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale, Louisiana, violated federal health guidance and left inmates who contracted the virus in their housing units for close to a week without isolating them from the rest of the prison population.

To date, more than 180,000 incarcerated individuals have tested positive for COVID-19, and 140 have died, including eight at the Oakdale prison, according to data compiled by the Marshall Project and the Associated Press.

Sweden, for months regarded as an example of a relatively laissez-faire government response to the pandemic, now will see stringent coronavirus-related restrictions.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced restrictions limiting the size of public gatherings and halting fans from attending concerts, performances, and sports matches. Schools, workplaces, and private gatherings are not included in the ban.

In-person gatherings, which were allowed as long as they were less than 50 people, will now be cut to a maximum of eight people.

“It is a clear and sharp signal to every person in our country as to what applies in the future. Don’t go to the gym. Don’t go to the library. Don’t have dinner out. Don’t have parties — cancel!” Lofven explained. “It’s going to get worse.”