COVID News: California has enormous spike in Covid cases

Bad news:  “The Southern California region reached 0% ICU capacity amid a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases across the state. According to the state’s website, the 11-county region reached the 0% threshold on Thursday, while the San Joaquin Valley region was at 0.7% after dipping down to 0% multiple times in recent days. The 0% capacity marker does not mean that no more Southern Californians can receive intensive care, but it does signal that hospitals are under a significant strain” (Washington Examiner).

The state has activated their “mass fatality” program which, according to the story, “is implemented when there are more deaths during a period of time than the local coroner or medical emergency personnel can handle” (Business Insider).  

Lockdowns are suffocating businesses in the state of California (ABC7).

Good News from South Dakota:  Despite a spike in COVID in November, cases are declining (SDDoH).  South Dakota’s unemployment rate is down to 3.5% for November. In November 2019, it was 3.4% (South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem - Twitter).

Mental News:  Meanwhile, ABC News notes “Many people’s mental health has been hit hard by COVID-19, with rates of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the rise. Now, researchers from the University of Ottawa in Canada have found that for many, the pandemic is also taking a toll on a good night’s sleep” (ABC News).

Promising News:  FDA Advisory Committee approved Moderna vaccine for emergency use authorization.  The government has ordered 200 million doses (Mediaite).  Vice President Mike Pence plans to have his vaccine today, Biden next week (NY Times).  Donald Trump already had COVID and recovered during the campaign season (Reuters.  The article chokes on anti-Trump bias).