Current Events in November 2020

Ford Motor Company is recalling about 16,000 model year 2014-16 Taurus & Explorer and model year 2014 Edge vehicles.

The link shaft bracket may fracture after long-term use as a result of certain vehicle vibrations causing a loss of motive power while being driven, or a loss of park function, resulting in unintended vehicle movement.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the link shaft bracket free of charge.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 20S63.

Albright’s Raw Dog Food of Fort Wayne, Ind., is recalling 67 cases of Chicken Recipe for Dogs.

The product may be contaminated with Salmonella.

One animal illness has been repor ted. No human illnesses have been reported to date.

The recalled product is labeled Albright’s Raw Dog Food Chicken Recipe for Dogs and is packaged in 2 lbs chubs/rolls. Each chub/roll is printed with “Lot number C000185, Best By 19 May 2021.”

It was sold frozen through retail stores, mail order and direct delivery in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled product should return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at (260) 422-9440 Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4 pm (EST).

General Motors is recalling 42 model year 2019-2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 & GMC Sierra 1500, and model year 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 trucks.

One of the driveshaft joints may not have been properly welded, causing the driveshaft to separate while the vehicle is moving.

Separation of the driveshaft may cause a loss of propulsion, increasing the risk of crash.

What to do

GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driveshaft free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin December 7, 2020.

Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at (800) 222-1020 or GMC customer service at (888) 988-7267. GM's number for this recall is N202314870.

Last week, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) issued a warning to consumers about a growing scam linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials said scammers had recently begun targeting people with the opportunity to participate in bogus clinical trials. 

This scam is particularly dangerous right now because of the success that companies like Pfizer and Moderna have seen with their recent Stage 3 clinical trials. With that in mind, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stepped in with several tips to help people avoid becoming victims.

In a blog post, FTC consumer education specialist Jim Kreidler lays out the following things that consumers should keep in mind when considering participation in a research study:

Never pay to be part of a clinical trial or to find out about them. Real clinical trials will never ask for payment for either of those things. 

Conduct an online search. Before joining a trial, it’s a smart idea to search its official name and add keywords like “scam,” “review,” or “complaint” to see if anything suspicious pops up.

Beware of what information the researchers are asking for. To help identify valid candidates, clinical trials will often need certain details like your name, contact information, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and any pertinent health information. However, they should never ask for financial information in that line of questioning.

Don’t share financial information. The FTC notes that real clinical trials will sometimes pay consumers for their participation, but you can request payment in the form of a check instead of having it directly deposited in your account.

Use approved resources to sign up for trials. To give yourself an even better chance of avoiding scammers, you can sign up for clinical trials by going to websites that have been vetted by regulators. The FTC offers ClinicalTrials.gov and the COVID-19 Prevention Network as two good resources.

As always, the FTC asks consumers to inform its officials about any potential scams that they might run into. You can do that by submitting a fraud report on the agency’s website.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases:  11,082,027 (10,997,987)

Total U.S. deaths: 246,586 (245,979)

Total global cases: 54,615,099 (54,251,464)

Total global deaths: 1,320,742 (1,315,291)

Moderna vaccine reported to be 94 percent effective

A week after Pfizer reported its coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine candidate was over 90 percent effective in preliminary results from its clinical trial, Moderna said its vaccine candidate was more than 94 percent effective.

While the two vaccines are similar, the Moderna vaccine may have some logistical advantages over the Pfizer drug, which must be kept at frigid temperatures at all times. Health experts say that makes distribution complicated.

The Moderna vaccine, and others currently under development by other companies, only have to be kept in a refrigerator or freezer, experts say.

Another milestone

The United States recorded its 11 millionth case of COVID-19 over the weekend as the number of cases got bigger by the day. In another grim milestone, the U.S. recorded 1 million new cases over the last seven days.

There were 133,000 new cases of the virus reported on Sunday. The COVID-19 Tracking Project at Johns Hopkins University reported nearly 70,000 hospitalizations by the end of the weekend. The U.S. death toll from the virus is more than 246,000.

Flu, COVID-19 combine for a ‘twindemic’

It’s flu season, and coronavirus cases are surging across the country. The “twindemic” is posing challenges for rural hospitals, according to TeleHealth Solution.

"Recently we had a patient in rural Northwest Wisconsin go to his local emergency department with generalized weakness, nausea and abdominal pain," said Dr. Ricardo de Leon. "The patient tested positive for COVID-19, but when the hospital reached out to TeleHealth Solution for specialist care, based on the patient's symptoms, we had the physician run an influenza test as well—which came back positive.”

Having the flu at the same time as COVID-19 is a complicating factor. TeleHealth Solution said it was able to triage the patient quickly and get him on oxygen to prevent a transfer to a larger hospital.

Johnson & Johnson testing two-dose vaccine

Johnson & Johnson has begun a clinical trial of its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine to determine whether the second dose provides another layer of protection. 

The company hopes to enroll as many as 30,000 participants in the study and run it at the same time as its single-dose trial. That trial, which began in September, has around 60,000 participants.

“The study will assess efficacy of the investigational vaccine after both the first and second dose to evaluate protection against the virus and potential incremental benefits for the duration of protection with a second dose,” the company said in a statement.

Dr. Gottlieb: It could be over next year

The news that two pharmaceutical companies have achieved more than 90 percent effectiveness in their vaccine trials suggests that the pandemic’s days are numbered, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Once we get these vaccines in sufficient qualities heading in 2021, the combination of the fact that a lot of the population will have already had Covid, combined with the fact that we’ll be vaccinating the public with a highly effective vaccine, we could effectively end this pandemic in 2021 with our technology,” Gottlieb told CNBC.

People who have gotten the virus and recovered from it are believed to have some level of immunity that could protect them for a year or longer.

Around the nation

• Connecticut: Researchers at Yale have reported a dramatic increase in the coronavirus found in municipal wastewater around the state, suggesting cases of the virus are rapidly rising. Yale scientists said virus concentration in wastewater from Stamford, Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven are especially heavy.

• West Virginia: Gov. Jim Justice has issued an order that tightens state requirements for residents to wear masks in public places. The governor’s order also cancels winter high school sports.

• Texas: The growing number of coronavirus cases in Texas is taking a heavy toll on hospitals around the state. Burnout appears to be a growing problem. Hospital officials say staff resignations are rising as the number of patients increase.

A week ago, the world woke to the news that Pfizer’s coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine appeared to provide protection against the virus. This Monday, it was Moderna’s turn.

The pharmaceutical company reported preliminary results of a Phase 3 clinical trial which indicate that its vaccine was effective 94 percent of the time.

“This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO. ”Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible.”

Logistical challenges for Pfizer

The next step is for both Pfizer and Moderna to seek emergency use authorization (EUA) for their vaccines, which are similar. However, health experts say one vaccine holds a logistical advantage over the other.

The Pfizer vaccine must be kept at frigid temperatures -- as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit -- or it is rendered useless. This will not be an easy task when it comes to moving hundreds of millions of doses around the country to clinics, hospitals, and other distribution centers.

Refrigerated trucks don’t get the cold. In fact, commercially-available freezers don’t reach that temperature. Existing cold storage plants may be of little use.

“Nothing that we’re building can even get that cold,” Tony Pricco, president of Bridge Development Partners, which builds and owns cold storage buildings and other warehouses throughout the country, told the Chicago Tribune. “I don’t think it’s even feasible to keep a large space that cold. This is not a conventional freezer type of use.”. 

Once planners get beyond the logistical problem of keeping large amounts of the vaccine at frigid temperatures, they will need facilities to keep smaller amounts at that temperature at doctors’ offices and health care facilities around the country.

‘Frozen in its tracks’

Dr. Henry Fishman, an allergy and immunology specialist with a practice in Washington, DC, says the Prizer vaccine “may be frozen in its tracks.”

“As a practical matter, the country is not set up for this kind of distribution,” he told ConsumerAffairs.”So I think this is a big logistical problem, especially because they need to distribute it very quickly. I don’t see how they’re going to do it.” 

Pfizer has designed what it calls “dry ice briefcases” that can be used to store small amounts of the vaccine. But these are effective for a limited period of time, and the sheer number needed will require a massive manufacturing process. 

Thermal shipping containers

Pfizer says it will employ thermal shipping containers that can hold nearly 5,000 doses of the vaccine. The company says the containers can maintain the recommended temperature for up to 10 days, as long as the containers are not opened.

Fishman said he was a subject in the Moderna vaccine clinical trial and believes he received the vaccine, not the placebo, although he was not told what he received. He said at this point, the Moderna vaccine doesn’t appear to present the same logistical challenges as the Pfizer vaccine.

“It just needs to be kept in a refrigerator or a freezer, like most other vaccines,” Fishman said.

Other pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi, are also working on vaccines that don’t have to be kept as cold and may pose less of a logistical challenge.

Consumers across the U.S. are being urged to practice social distancing as new cases of the coronavirus sweep across the nation. But staying isolated isn’t an option for some workers, and it’s putting them at a much higher risk of infection. 

A new study conducted at Rutgers shows that health care workers, in particular, have a much higher infection rate than other professionals. Researchers found that those who had a high amount of direct contact with multiple COVID-19 patients -- such as nurses -- were at the highest risk of infection. 

The team noted that as of November 15, over 216,000 U.S. health care workers had been infected with COVID-19. Of that number, they said that there were at least 799 deaths.

Identifying risk factors

Among different types of health care workers, the researchers found that those who worked in intensive care units were the least likely to be infected with COVID-19. While their findings weren’t definitive, they speculated that this was due to greater use of personal protective equipment. 

While new cases of COVID-19 are sweeping across the U.S.,  and the nation’s hospitals may soon be overburdened with an influx of new patients, the researchers say their work may help provide information on how transmission can be prevented among frontline workers.

"The baseline data reported here have helped us to monitor the spread of infection and examine risk factors for transmission among health care workers and others," said Daniel Horton, lead co-author of the study. "These findings and our ongoing follow-up of study participants have informed local strategies to protect the health care workforce, their families, and their patients."

Recent studies have highlighted the ways that poor sleeping habits can negatively affect consumers’ heart health. Now, a new study conducted by researchers from the American Heart Association has found the inverse to be true: healthy sleeping habits can be good for consumers’ hearts. 

According to their findings, consumers with solid sleep routines lowered their risk of heart failure by more than 40 percent compared to those who had inconsistent nighttime habits. 

“Our findings highlight the importance of improving overall sleep patterns to help prevent heart failure,” said researcher Dr. Lu Qi. 

Prioritizing healthy sleeping habits

To understand how healthy sleeping habits can affect consumers’ heart health, the researchers analyzed data from more than 408,000 participants involved in the U.K. Biobank database. Healthy sleeping habits were identified from five major characteristics: daytime sleepiness, sleep duration, snoring, tendencies towards being a night owl versus an early riser, and insomnia. Each participant received a sleep score based on how many of the habits they followed each night; the higher the score, the better the sleep quality. 

The researchers learned that those with the best sleep scores had the lowest risk of heart failure. Those who incorporated the most healthy habits into their nightly routines had a more than 40 percent lower risk of heart failure than those who had the lowest sleep scores. 

While consumers should strive to incorporate as many healthy sleep habits as they can, the researchers found that meeting only one healthy habit was still enough to reduce the risk of heart failure on its own. For example, those who rarely felt tired during the day were nearly 35 percent less likely to experience heart failure, whereas those who were prone to waking up earlier were roughly 10 percent less likely to experience heart failure. Similarly, those who slept at least seven hours each night and those who didn’t experience insomnia-related symptoms also had a lower risk of heart failure. 

As the health risks associated with disrupted sleep continue to mount, these findings highlight the importance of cultivating healthy habits at bedtime. 

Fresh off its partnership with Pizza Hut to provide more plant-based options in the fast-food industry, Beyond Meat is revealing details about two new products that it will be debuting next year. 

The company announced Monday that it will be releasing two new versions of its Beyond Burger nationwide in early 2021. Officials say the new offerings will be an improvement over current plant-based options. 

“The new iterations are designed to meet consumers’ growing demand for plant-based proteins that deliver on both taste and nutrition, while featuring an enhanced meaty flavor and the craveable taste consumers love, with an even better nutritional profile,” the company said in a press release.

More sustainable burgers

Beyond Meat says the two new versions of the Beyond Burger will be its most nutritious patties to date, with 35 to 55 percent less saturated fat than traditional 80/20 beef burgers. It also says the burgers will have lower overall fat and fewer calories than that same beef burger, as well as more B vitamins and minerals when compared to the micronutrient profile of beef.

"I am personally thrilled to introduce this new Beyond Burger platform as it speaks so clearly to what our brand and company stands for,” said Ethan Brown, CEO and founder of Beyond Meat. “Our commitment is to provide consumers with absolutely delicious plant-based meats that are better for people and the planet, no sacrifice required.”

“Just as you can find different varieties of ground beef, consumers will now have more choice to satisfy their individual nutritional needs and preferences," Brown concluded.

The company says a preview of the two new burgers will be available at an exclusive event in Los Angeles that takes place from Nov. 18-20. 

Thanks to the pandemic, video conferencing platform Zoom has more than doubled its income and grown its user base by more than 30-fold from a year ago. As a way of saying “thanks” on Thanksgiving, the company is removing the 40-minute time limit from its free version so that virtual family gatherings can be as long as they want to be.

In its announcement on Twitter, the company said that the unlimited usage will run from midnight ET on Thursday, November 26 through 6 a.m. ET on Friday, November 27.

Zoom calls are now safer and better protected

While Zoom has had some rather large issues with security concerns, the company seems to be back on the right track heading into the holidays. So if you plan on sharing Granny’s secret sweet potato pie recipe, it should be safe from prying eyes. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced a settlement with the company that will require the company to implement a sturdier information security program. The FTC alleged that Zoom engaged in a series of “deceptive and unfair practices” that essentially undermined the security of its users and created the possibility that other people (including Zoom) could read a user’s content. 

Zoom has promised that, going forward, it will employ multi-factor authentication to protect against unauthorized access to its network, institute data deletion controls, and take steps to prevent the use of known compromised user credentials.

Depression affects consumers young and old, and now a new poll is exploring how the latter deals with mental health struggles. 

According to responses to the GeneSight Mental Health Monitor, nearly two-thirds of older consumers reported that they wouldn’t seek professional help for their depression. 

“The ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ mindset of some seniors and reluctance to talk about mental health are hindering them from getting the help they need -- especially now when the pandemic is having an enormous impact on the mental health of older Americans,” said researcher Dr. Mark Pollack. “People will seek treatment for conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Depression is no different. It is an illness that can and should be treated.” 

Why are seniors avoiding treatment?

The GeneSight Mental Health Monitor polled consumers aged 65 and older across the country to determine their attitudes about depression. Their findings revealed that more than 60 percent of older consumers wouldn’t seek out mental health treatment for depression. 

Survey respondents hadn’t been formally diagnosed with depression, but they did have concerns that they were exhibiting depression-related symptoms. Despite that, they still reported that they wouldn’t get help for those concerns. Ultimately, over 30 percent of the participants believed that they could handle their depression themselves, and nearly 40 percent were confident that they didn’t need a doctor’s help. 

More than 30 percent of the participants also reported that they noticed their depression had affected their lives in tangible ways; they struggled to enjoy activities that normally brought them joy, and they had difficulties interacting with the people closest to them. Having strong, supportive connections is an important aspect when it comes to protecting against depression. 

“In my experience, there is a commonly held view that depression is a normal part of aging; it is not,” said researcher Dr. Parikshit Deshmukh. “I’ve found older adults have a very difficult time admitting that they have depression. When they do acknowledge it, they are still reluctant to start treatment for a wide variety of reasons.” 

The researchers explained that there is a stigma around mental health and depression for many older consumers, and finding the right treatment can be time-consuming and ultimately ineffective. However, the researchers hope that older consumers treat their mental health concerns the same way they’d treat their physical health concerns. They encourage seniors to take time to find a treatment plan that works for them. 

In all the hoopla regarding new vaccine test success from Moderna and Pfizer, Microsoft has uncovered a series of cyber attacks coming from Russia and North Korea targeted at research companies doing those tests.

In a blog post, Microsoft says the attacks targeted seven major pharmaceutical companies and researchers in Canada, France, India, and South Korea, and the U.S. Microsoft didn’t say which companies were targeted or what type of information may have actually been compromised or stolen, but officials said they had notified the organizations and offered help where the attacks were successful.

“Two global issues will help shape people’s memories of this time in history – COVID-19 and the increased use of the internet by malign actors to disrupt society. It’s disturbing that these challenges have now merged as cyberattacks are being used to disrupt health care organizations fighting the pandemic,” wrote Microsoft’s Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security & Trust.

“We think these attacks are unconscionable and should be condemned by all civilized society. Today, we’re sharing more about the attacks we’ve seen most recently and are urging governments to act.”

The attacks and the protection

There are actually three key players in the attacks: “Strontium,” an actor originating from Russia, and two actors originating from North Korea that Microsoft has dubbed “Zinc” and “Cerium.”

Strontium uses “password spray” and brute force login attempts to steal personal login credentials. The software it uses conducts millions of rapid attempts to crack a third-party’s personal data. Zinc’s game is to use spear-phishing lures for credential theft by sending messages with fabricated job descriptions pretending to be recruiters. And Cerium? The angle it works is spear-phishing with email lures using COVID-19 themes while masquerading as World Health Organization representatives. 

Luckily, Burt says the “majority” of the attacks have been blocked by security protections built into the company’s products. The company is continuing to make its threat notification service, “AccountGuard,” available for free to health care and human rights organizations working on COVID-19. 

The company says that 195 health care-related groups have enrolled in the service, and it now protects 1.7 million email accounts that those organizations serve.

Costco, one of the first national retailers to institute a mandatory mask rule early in the pandemic, has toughened the requirement. The policy shift was announced last week.

Starting today, there will be no exceptions to the mask requirement. Previously, shoppers who said they couldn’t wear a mask for medical reasons were exempt from the requirement. The company says it revised the rule because of the huge number of new cases occurring across the country. Over the weekend, the total number of U.S. coronavirus (COVID-19) cases surged past 11 million.

For Costco shoppers who for medical reasons are unable to wear a cloth mask that covers their face, the retailer said it would allow these consumers to wear face shields instead.

“This updated policy may seem inconvenient to some, however we believe the added safety is worth any inconvenience,” said Costco CEO Craig Jelinek. “Our goal is to continue to provide a safe shopping environment for our members and guests, and to provide a safe work environment for our employees.”

Following CDC advice

Costco’s announcement on April 30 that it would require shoppers to wear a face-covering was met with heated resistance on social media -- resistance that took on political overtones during the 2020 presidential campaign.

At the time, Costco defended its move by saying it was simply complying with advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency said masks were helping in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in settings where social distancing is difficult.

Other retailers are returning to policies they instituted as the virus spread during the spring. On Friday, Walmart announced it would begin limiting the number of people in its stores at a given time.

That policy went into effect in April when Walmart began limiting the number of people in its stores to 20 percent of capacity. The policy was relaxed during the summer as cases declined and more shoppers opted for delivery and curbside pickup.

A Walmart spokesperson said the company believes foot traffic has remained at 20 percent or below but it will begin counting shoppers again “out of an abundance of caution.”

Arena North America of Portland, Ore., is recalling about 10,000 Arena Swim Snorkels Pro II and Swim Snorkels II sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The snorkels can release excess material from inside the tube or mouthpiece, posing a choking hazard.

The firm has received one report of a small piece of the swim snorkel being inhaled.

This recall involves the Arena Swim Snorkel Pro II (style 001969) sold in black, acid lime and pink and Swim Snorkel II (style 001970) sold in black and acid lime.

Both styles have the “Arena” logo printed on the top of the tube. The style code and production date are printed on the tube above the mouthpiece along with EN 1972 Class A and Made in China.

A list of the recalled styles may be found here.

The snorkels, manufactured in China, were sold at Xtreme swim stores, Metro swim shops, Swim Suit West stores nationwide and online from arenasport.com and amazon.com from February 2018, through May 2020, for between $35 and $45.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled snorkels and contact the firm for a free replacement tube or mouthpiece.

Consumers may contact Arena North America toll-free at (888) 902-7362 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PT) Monday through Friday, by email at customerserviceUSA@arenawaterinstinct.com, or online at https://www.arenasport.com/en_us/ and click on “Snorkel recall campaign” at the bottom of the page for more information.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 10.569,558 (10,421,678)

Total U.S. deaths: 242,536 (241,949)

Total global cases: 52,918,582 (52,331,462)

Total global deaths: 1,295.976 (1,287,966)

Growing concern about Thanksgiving

Health officials are pleading with Americans to stay home during the Thanksgiving holiday and to not travel to visit friends and family. Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of President-elect Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, compares Thanksgiving gatherings to “pouring gasoline on a fire.”

Early evidence suggests Americans are not heeding the advice. A survey of consumers conducted from Cars.com found that 47 percent of Americans plan to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, most of them by car.

By way of comparison, only 21 percent fewer Americans traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2019 when there was no pandemic.

Economists predict a huge turnaround in the pandemic

Things may look bleak at the moment, but economists at the Swiss bank UBS say the situation is likely to look very different six months from now. 

“We might get a situation where reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States fall very close to zero in Q2 (second quarter) of next year,” Seth Carpenter, chief U.S. economist at UBS, told CNBC.

The bank originally predicted that it would be the second quarter of 2022 when COVID-19 cases disappear in the U.S. Carpenter said this week’s announcement from Pfizer that its vaccine appeared to be highly effective is a game-changer.

COVID-19 cases spinning out of control

The COVID-19 Tracking Project at Johns Hopkins University counted 153,000 new cases of the virus in a single day on Thursday, breaking the record from the previous day. Health experts say the wave of new cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals across the country.

Hospitals everywhere seem to be feeling the pressure. COVID-19 hospitalizations across the nation rose to a record 67,096 on Thursday, with about 20 percent of the patients requiring treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU).

The case count has surged in recent weeks along Texas’ border with Mexico. El Paso has been particularly hard-hit. The city’s hospitals are full, and the state has set up a temporary medical center at the local civic auditorium.

Why some patients die and others don’t

Researchers writing in Science say they have stumbled across a discovery that may explain why some people are more likely to die from COVID-19. 

While age and underlying conditions are big factors, the scientists said they found that about 10 percent of nearly 1,000 patients who developed life-threatening pneumonia had antibodies that disable key immune system proteins called interferons. The sinister antibodies were absent in 663 people with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections. 

Scientists call it a “breakthrough” finding that will help physicians better treat patients who become severely ill.

Vaccines should handle a mutating virus

An outbreak of a mutating strain of the coronavirus at European mink farms initially caused concern among health officials. They believed that vaccines currently in development might prove ineffective against it, but now it appears the concern might be overblown. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said it’s important to investigate the new strain, but he doesn’t think it should derail the current vaccine efforts.

“It does not appear, at this point, that that mutation that’s been identified in the minks is going to have an impact on vaccines and affect a vaccine-induced response,” Fauci said during a webinar this week.

Around the nation

• Texas: Just days after becoming the first state with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, Texas officials have announced that state colleges will hold in-person graduation ceremonies next month. The ceremonies will be spread out over several days to reduce crowd size.

• Illinois: Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the state may need to shut down again as cases of the virus spike. Illinois public health officials reported a one-day record of 12,702 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, as well as 43 deaths.

• New Jersey: New Jersey is a step closer to shutting down the state. Gov. Phil Murphy is limiting hours for bars and restaurants and prohibiting bar seating at all times.

The number of Americans who plan to travel for Thanksgiving this year is considerably lower than those who did it last year, according to a new study from Cars.com.

Not that it’s any surprise, but the COVID-19 pandemic is the primary reason for more than half (59 percent) of those staying home for the holiday. For those who say they’ll venture out, the majority of those travelers (72 percent) plan on keeping their trips close to home. 

"We've been watching consumer travel habits since the onset of the pandemic, and there have been two consistent themes -- the pandemic is obviously affecting people's travel plans, but when people do travel, the majority drive by car because of the safety and freedom cars provide. We are seeing these themes continue for holiday travel this year," said Jenni Newman, Cars.com editor-in-chief.

Major cities will be hit the hardest

The survey found an interesting reason for why many travelers (44 percent) are staying home. It seems they’re avoiding large cities, a reasonable bet because there are metro areas such as Houston, Boston, and Chicago where the number of infections continues to grow and records are being set.

For those who do decide to travel, most (72 percent) will take the car. While travel is down overall, drivers should expect a spike in highway congestion over the holidays. Cars.com estimates that the highest congestion will happen the weekend before Thanksgiving (37 percent), followed by Thanksgiving day itself (19 percent), then the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (13 percent). The local hours between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. are expected to be the busiest for travel Nov. 25 and 26.

"While personal vehicles present a safer option for holiday travel, it's important for drivers and their passengers to stay vigilant and follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and local COVID-19 rules and restrictions," said Newman.

It was a grim week in America as the coronavirus (COVID-19) raged out of control. While the week began with hope – on Monday Pfizer reported that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in a clinical trial – the U.S. reported more than 150,000 new cases on Thursday.

The COVID-19 Tracking Project at Johns Hopkins University counted 153,000 new cases in a single day, breaking the record from the previous day. The wave of new cases threatens to overwhelm hospitals across the country, a situation that existed in New York in the early days of the pandemic. 

Now, hospitals everywhere are feeling the pressure. COVID-19 hospitalizations across the nation rose to a record 67,096 Thursday, with about 20 percent of the patients requiring treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU).

The case count has surged in recent weeks along Texas’ border with Mexico. El Paso has been particularly hard-hit. The city’s hospitals are full, and the state has set up a temporary medical center at the local civic auditorium. 

Records set

Texas became the first state this week to record a total of 1 million cases of the coronavirus. The following day, California also moved past that milestone. Cases are also spreading quickly throughout the Midwest, and public officials have begun to talk about shutting down much of the economy again. 

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has issued a “stay-at-home advisory,” urging people not to venture out except for essential business. Illinois reported a record number of infections Thursday for the second day in a row. 

The virus is also racing across Ohio and Minnesota. Both states reported more than 7,000 daily cases for the first time. Cases are also multiplying in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Utah, New Mexico, and Oregon.

Even New England states are not being spared. Despite low case counts throughout the pandemic, attributed to residents strictly following mitigation measures, cases are on the rise in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Reviewing options

Governors reviewed options this week for curtailing the spread in their states. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says what happens next is really up to citizens of the state.

“New Yorkers just have to continue to take it seriously,” Cuomo said this week. “I know it has been a long time, but these next weeks are going to be key and we really need people to buckle down to fend off the tide."

Cuomo and other governors are urging people to avoid family gatherings for Thanksgiving due to concerns that even small groups of people can spread the virus to others.

While the case count continues to mount, the death toll hasn’t risen nearly as fast -- but health experts caution that deaths are a lagging indicator of the severity of the virus. As of Friday morning, the death toll from COVID-19 stood at more than 242,000 in the U.S.

Loneliness is a common worry for older consumers. However, a new study conducted by researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center found that group exercise classes could be a great way for older consumers to fight this problem. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to host these classes in person, the researchers found that participating in virtual classes has yielded similar benefits. 

“As the demographics of our country shift, more people are living alone than ever before,” said researcher Dr. Allison Moser Mays. “The number of adults over the age of 65 in the U.S. is expected to reach more than 70 million by 2030 -- double what it is now. We need sustainable ways to help this burgeoning population thrive as they age, or there will be widespread consequences.” 

Staying connected and active

For the study, the researchers followed over 380 participants between the ages of 52 and 104 over the course of nearly two years. The participants enrolled in health and exercise classes offered by Leveraging Exercise to Age in Place (LEAP), which is a program designed to focus on specific areas that are best suited to older consumers’ needs. 

The participants were able to consult with health coaches who helped them pick classes and offer general assistance over the course of the study. They also completed questionnaires about their loneliness and social connectedness at the beginning of the study and then again six months in. 

After looking at the results from the participants at the six-month mark, the researchers learned that going to these classes was beneficial for the participants in several ways. Not only did they notice improvements in their balance and coordination, but the participants reported feeling less lonely and more socially connected after starting the classes. 

“These classes had already been shown to reduce the risk of falls in seniors, and this was the first demonstration that they also reduce social isolation, to the best of our knowledge,” said Dr. Mays. 

Virtual classes work too

The researchers had been collecting data up until March of this year, when exercise facilities were closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of these classes remained in session online, and 59 participants involved in the study continued taking them virtually. Though the researchers didn’t note any significant changes to these participants’ loneliness or social connectedness, the sessions proved to be a good way for older consumers to stay active and engaged during the early days of quarantine. 

The researchers hope that these findings inspire communities across the country to use LEAP to their advantage and take steps towards better connecting older consumers. 

“The results of this study are very exciting because we’ve provided a model that other health systems can easily replicate by integrating evidence-based programs in the community with their organizations,” said researcher Dr. Sonja Rosen. “They don’t need to reinvent the wheel.” 

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Houston found that consumers’ interest in their jobs isn’t the biggest factor in their overall job satisfaction. 

They found that being interested in a role is important when it comes to how employees perform, but other factors like positive relations with colleagues and bosses are more important when it comes to feeling satisfied at work. 

“In popular guidance literature, it is widely assumed that interest fit is important for job satisfaction,” said researcher Kevin Hoff. “Our results show that people who are more interested in their jobs tend to be slightly more satisfied, but interest assessments are more useful for guiding people towards jobs in which they will perform better and make more money.” 

Finding the right fit

To understand how job interest plays a role in satisfaction, the researchers analyzed 105 related studies spanning from 1949 through 2016. After evaluating data from over 39,000 participants, the researchers learned that having interest in a position wasn’t the only thing that contributed to job satisfaction. 

The study revealed that several factors come into play when determining satisfaction at work, including the values of the company and having a good rapport with co-workers. The researchers learned that having a genuine interest in a job was more closely related to how well employees performed in their roles and any subsequent progress that they made in that role, including promotions and raises. 

“Our main finding was that interest fit significantly predicts satisfaction, but it’s not as strong of a relation as people expect,” Hoff said. “Other things that lead to satisfaction include the organization you work for, your supervisor, colleagues, and pay.” 

For those looking for a career change or those just entering into the workforce, it can be overwhelming to try to find the perfect fit. The researchers explained that many assessments tend to focus solely on job interest, but these findings highlight that several other factors can come into play. 

“To be satisfied with a job, you don’t have to worry too much about finding a perfect fit for your interests because we know other things matter, too,” said Hoff. “As long as it’s something you don’t hate doing, you may find yourself very satisfied if you have a good supervisor, like your coworkers, and are treated fairly by your organization.”