Latest: Contract health workers arrive in Montana to help

A nurse walks COVID-19 tests back to the tent at the free COVID-19 testing site on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020 in Glenwood Springs, Colo. (Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent via AP)

In this undated image from video provided by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, scientists work with a bioreactor at a company facility in New York state, for efforts on an experimental coronavirus antibody drug. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020 authorized the use of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. drug to try to prevent patients with mild-to-moderate disease from worsening and needing hospitalization. It's given as a one-time treatment through an IV and is still going through more testing to establish its safety and effectiveness. (Regeneron via AP)

In this Dec. 12, 2019 file photo, pilgrims arrive at the plaza outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mexican Catholic Church announced on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020 the cancelation of the annual pilgrimage, the largest Catholic pilgrimage worldwide. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

In this file photo dated Friday, February 1, 2019, Mike Ryan, WHO Assistant Director-General for Emergencies, during a press conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. At the start of a week-long meeting on Monday Nov. 9, 2020, Ryan said the WHO tries to work with member states constructively, but the World Health Organization is under intense pressure to reform following its response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone FILE via AP)

A Swiss army soldier, left, wearing personal protective equipment helps hospital's physiotherapists to mobilize a COVID-19 patient in the intermediate care units of Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Switzerland, as many countries in Europe, requisitioned members of the Civil Protection, the Swiss army and also firefighter to help medical workers in hospitals as cases of Covid-19 patients spike in a second wave of pandemic. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

Annette Delaney, 54, a travel escort at Ambassador Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Albany Park, leads a rally of striking Infinity Healthcare Management workers outside the Northwest Side facility, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Nearly 700 workers walked off the job Monday at 11 Infinity facilities across the Chicago area, saying they won't return until the company offers them higher wages and safer working conditions. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Nurse Franziska Strauss documents the treatment steps next to the bed of a Covid-19 patient at the intensive care unit of the University Hospital in Greifswald . Covid-19 patients have been treated at the University Hospital since the beginning of the pandemic. (Jens Buettner/dpa via AP)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020 file photo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend a weekly cabinet meeting at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, in London. Boris Johnson's office said late Saturday Nov. 21, 2020, there are plans to end the England-wide lockdown as scheduled on Dec. 2 and to announce a return to regional restrictions as statistics show coronavirus infections have stabilized. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

In this screen shot provided by ABC on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, Bad Bunny accepts the award for favorite latin album for “YHLQMDLG” at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (ABC via AP)

In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, a volunteer receives an injection at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, as part of Africa's first participation in a COVID-19 vaccine trial developed at the University of Oxford in Britain in conjunction with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca says late-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine were "highly effective'' in preventing disease. A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford prevented 70% of people from developing the coronavirus in late-stage trials, the team reported Monday Nov. 23, 2020. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool via AP)

Students wearing face masks sit spaced apart during a trial run of a class with COVID-19 protocol at the Nurul Amal Islamic school in Tangerang, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Students wearing face masks sit spaced apart during a trial run of a class with COVID-19 protocol at Nurul Amal Islamic school in Tangerang, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus chat each other as a man performs morning exercise at a park in Beijing, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Sri Lankan health officials prepare to collect swab samples to test for COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A Sri Lankan health official carries a test kit to inspect residents at a housing complex as they prepare to collect swab samples to test for COVID-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

In this Thursday, April 23, 2020 file screen grab taken from video issued by Britain's Oxford University, showing a person being injected as part of the first human trials in the UK to test a potential coronavirus vaccine, untaken by Oxford University in England. AstraZeneca says late-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine were “highly effective’’ in preventing disease. A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford prevented 70% of people from developing the coronavirus in late-stage trials, the team reported Monday Nov. 23, 2020. (Oxford University Pool via AP, File)

In this Saturday, July 18, 2020 file photo a general view of AstraZeneca offices and the corporate logo in Cambridge, England. AstraZeneca says late-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine were "highly effective'' in preventing disease. A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford prevented 70% of people from developing the coronavirus in late-stage trials, the team reported Monday Nov. 23, 2020.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Security workers in protective suit prepare for administering COVID-19 testings for workers at the parking lot of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week. (AP Photo)

In this Oct. 19, 2020 photo, Cuba High School senior Cyliss Castillo shows off his slap bracelet USB drive loaded with assignments that was delivered by school bus driver Kelly Maeastas, outside Cuba, New Mexico. The closing of classrooms and the switch to remote learning because of the coronavirus outbreak have left Castillo and other students in this school district on the sparsely populated fringe of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico profoundly isolated, cut off from other people — and, in many cases, the grid — by sheer distance. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Students have their temperature checked and disinfect their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning classes at Preah Sisowath high school, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. Cambodia on Monday reopened schools after the country banned all state-organized events in the capital and a neighboring province for two weeks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after a number of people connected to a Hungarian official's visit tested positive in early the month of November. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Vehicles line up as healthcare workers help to check-in as citizens is being tested at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing center at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

Vehicles line up as healthcare workers help to check-in as citizens are being tested at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing center at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

A man has his temperature checked prior to entering a store in Montreal, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

Protesters gather for a demonstration in Hamburg, Germany, Sunday Nov. 22, 2020, to oppose the restriction measures in place to control the spread of the coronavirus. (Georg Wendt/dpa via AP)

People pass a social distancing sign in Cardiff, where restrictions across Wales have been relaxed following a two-week "firebreak" lockdown, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. First Minister Mark Drakeford has said there is evidence that the firebreak in Wales had successfully had an impact on lowering the rate of coronavirus transmission. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)

People walking on Tynemouth beach, as England continues a four week national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Tyne and Wear, England, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

A worker in a protective suit takes a throat swab for a COVID-19 test in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. Authorities are conducting mass testing and shutting down schools after China reported three new domestically transmitted cases in the past 24 hours - two in northern Inner Mongolia province and one in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

HELENA, Mont. — The Montana governor’s office says more than 100 contracted medical staff have arrived in the state to assist hospitals in responding to the spike in COVID-19 cases.

The 110 health care workers are part of an anticipated total of 200 to be deployed in the state before Thanksgiving and who will remain until the end of the year.

The workers, including registered nurses and respiratory therapists, will aid hospitals that are at or near capacity as part of a contract between the state and NuWest, which provides traveling health care workers.

State health officials reported 677 new cases of COVID-19 Monday, bringing total confirmed cases to more than 56,000.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— AstraZeneca says late-stage trials show it s vaccine with Oxford University is "highly effective,'' does not need the deep cold storage that rival vaccines do

— Cut off: School closings leave rural students isolated

— Jury duty? No thanks, say many, forcing trials to be delayed

— Inequality ‘baked into’ virus testing access as cases surge

— New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern offers virus know-how to Joe Biden

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Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear warned Monday that the state's health care system could be at risk — and lives at stake — from rising pressures of new coronavirus hospitalizations if conditions do not improve.

He made the remarks while defending the new mandates he issued last week to fight the pandemic.

The Democratic governor’s new restrictions on in-person gatherings at restaurants, schools and event venues have drawn criticism from GOP lawmakers, local business owners and private schools throughout the state. Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, joined a Christian school on Nov. 20 in filing a federal lawsuit that seeks a statewide temporary restraining order against a new rule that suspends in-person classes in private and public schools.

Under the new restrictions, middle and high schools are required to continue with remote instruction until January. Elementary schools may reopen on Dec. 7 if the county they are located in is not in the “red zone,” the highest category for COVID-19 incidence rates.

Kentucky continued setting records with 2,135 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported, the state’s highest daily number on a Monday since the pandemic again. The state also reported five virus-related deaths, raising the death toll to 1,792.

The state’s test positivity rate is 8.97%, down slightly from last Friday.

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland will expand its pandemic-related compliance efforts ahead of Thanksgiving by sending additional state troopers to every county and Baltimore, Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday.

Hogan said state troopers will work with liquor boards, local law enforcement agencies and others starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday to ensure that businesses and residents follow directives meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including the mask-wearing mandate.

He said the Maryland State Police is also ramping up the hotline that the public can dial to report violations and is now operating a new phone line to assist local compliance officers.

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SAN DIEGO — A California judge on Monday denied a request to temporarily restore indoor service at restaurants and gyms in San Diego County that were forced to move operations outside earlier this month to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Kenneth Medel said in his ruling that there is scientific evidence to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sweeping public health orders to restrict business activity during the pandemic. Business owners in California’s second most populous county sought to restore indoor operations at 25% capacity for restaurants and 10% for gyms, which were the rules before a surge in infections earlier this month.

Two San Diego restaurants and two gyms sued on behalf of their industries, asking that California’s four-tier system of pandemic restrictions be declared illegal. San Diego, like nearly all of the state’s counties, was moved into the most restrictive tier and forced to move many business operations and religious services outside.

The judge scheduled another hearing next month.

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SALT LAKE CITY_— Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Monday relaxed restrictions on social gatherings ahead of Thanksgiving weekend as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to surge.

State data shows there were 545 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Utah on Monday, and referral center ICU beds reached 91.9% occupancy statewide. The increased number of hospitalizations has prompted doctors and public health officials to advise against attending large Thanksgiving gatherings.

Herbert, a Republican, said he will not extend his previous two-week order that required people to limit social gatherings to people in their immediate household but urged caution. He recommended masks, social distancing and smaller gatherings for the holiday.

Rich Saunders, the interim director of the state health department, recommended that people in high transmission areas, which include 26 of the state’s 29 counties, limit social gatherings to 10 or fewer.

The state’s mask mandate will remain in place.

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TOPEKA, Kan. — Surging pandemic numbers are straining hospitals across Kansas just days before Thanksgiving gatherings that public health officials fear could worsen the outbreak.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported on Monday 95 new hospitalizations, bringing the total of hospitalizations to 4,777 since the start of the pandemic. The state’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 240 coronavirus patients were in ICU units, with 36% of ICU capacity remaining in Kansas.

State health officials added 7,526 cases to the state’s pandemic tally since Friday, bringing the total to 142,059. The data showed that Kansas averaged 2,760 new confirmed and probable coronavirus a day for the seven days ending Monday. That is just slightly below the record average of 2,766 cases.

The number of COVID-19 related deaths also rose by 46 to 1,456.

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DENVER — As Colorado experiences its highest hospitalization rate of COVID-19 patients, Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order authorizing the state health department to order hospitals and emergency departments to transfer and cease admitting new patients in order to deal with the influx of coronavirus cases.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, as of Sunday the state had over 1,500 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations. On Friday, Polis said full hospital capacity was reached in Mesa County on the state’s western slope and nearing the same fate in Weld County in northeast Colorado with only three intensive care beds available.

The order allows for those hospitals which have reached capacity to transfer patients to another facility without obtaining their consent. It also states that health care providers who comply with the order and transfer patients are “immune from civil or criminal liability for any action taken.”

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MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other officials urged residents Monday to download a free app for their smartphones that will notify them if someone who’s been near them later tests positive for the coronavirus and will allow them to warn others anonymously if they test positive themselves.

Tarek Tomes, the state’s information technology commissioner, stressed that using the COVIDaware MN app is voluntary, and that the system contains ample privacy safeguards for those who opt in.

It uses exposure notification technology developed by Google and Apple that is already being used under different names in around 20 other states and 35 countries around the world to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Tuesday will start distributing 30,000 doses of an experimental antibody drug to fight COVID-19, the one President Donald Trump received last month.

Over the weekend, the Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow emergency use of the drug, made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., for people with mild to moderate symptoms who are at high risk of developing serious illness because of their age or other medical conditions. It’s not authorized for use in sicker, hospitalized patients or those who need extra oxygen.

The emergency authorization allows limited use of a drug while studies continue to test its safety and effectiveness. Early results suggest it may reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits.

The drugs are given as a one-time treatment through an IV. Under federal contracts, the drugs for now will be supplied for free, although patients may have to pay part of the cost of the IV treatment.

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MESA, Ariz. — An Arizona woman who drew widespread attention after opening her Thanksgiving table to a stranger she accidentally texted has kept the tradition going, despite losing her husband Lonnie to COVID-19.

Wanda Dench and 21-year-old Jamal Hinton met in 2016 after the grandmother from the Phoenix suburb of Mesa mistakenly texted her grandson about coming for Thanksgiving to Hinton’s number. Hinton jokingly replied he would like to come as well. Dench told him he was welcome.

Last week, they celebrated a mini Thanksgiving dinner with a photo of Lonnie Dench and an empty chair for him. The couple was infected in March and Lonnie Dench died the next month.

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MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church announced the cancellation Monday of what’s considered the world’s largest Catholic pilgrimage, for the Virgin of Guadalupe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s Episcopal Conference said in a statement that the basilica will be closed from December 10-13. The Virgin is celebrated on Dec. 12 and for weeks in advance, pilgrims travel from across Mexico to gather by the millions in Mexico City.

The church recommended that “the Guadalupe celebrations be held in churches or at home, avoiding gatherings and with the appropriate health measures.”

Bishop Salvador Martínez, rector at the basilica, said recently in a video circulated on social media that as many as 15 million pilgrims visit during the first two weeks of December.

The church recognized that 2020 has been a trying year and that many of the faithful want to seek consolation at basilica, but said that conditions don’t permit a pilgrimage that brings so many into close contact.

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MADRID — Spanish King Felipe VI is self-isolating after being with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

The royal household said Monday the 52-year-old monarch was “in close contact” the previous day with someone infected by the new coronavirus.

Felipe will self-isolate for the mandatory 10 days and has canceled his official duties for that period.

The royal household gave no information about the state of his health.

Also on Monday, Spain’s 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population — a key metric in measuring the pandemic’s spread — has continued to fall.

The Health Ministry said that number has fallen to 374 cases per 100,000. That’s down from 470 cases a week earlier and from the Nov. 9 peak of 529.

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GENEVA — The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization says it’s “extremely important” for its international team to visit China to look into the origins of the coronavirus, saying the U.N. health agency has been reassured such a trip will happen “as soon as possible.”

Dr. Michael Ryan said such a visit is needed so that “the international community can be reassured of the quality of the science” that he lamented has been increasingly questioned for political ends — including pressure and threatening e-mails against scientists.

“We all need to understand where it has come from, not least to understand where it may re-emerge in the future,” Ryan told a news conference from Geneva. “I believe our Chinese colleagues are just as anxious to find those answers as we are.”

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GENEVA — The chief scientist of the World Health Organization is hailing the “huge logistical advantages” offered by a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan noted the vaccine — for which AstraZeneca released initial results on Monday — can be stored in an “ordinary refrigerator” and can remain stable at temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.

That would enhance the possibility of getting coronavirus vaccines to many countries where so-called cold chains — which are required of other vaccine candidates from drug makers Moderna and Pfizer — are harder to ensure.

Simao said WHO expects to have finalized an assessment of its vaccine “in the beginning of next year” which could lead to deployment of the vaccine.

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CHICAGO — Nearly 700 nursing home workers walked off the job Monday at 11 mostly Chicago-area Infinity Healthcare Management facilities, saying they won’t return until the company offers them higher wages and safer working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic that’s hit nursing homes hard.

Striking workers and representatives of their union, SEIU Healthcare Illinois, stood outside nursing homes in Cicero, Maywood and Chicago’s Brainerd neighborhood, while recounting a list of grievances against Infinity. The workers are demanding at least a $15 an hour wage, hazard pay for all employees and a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment.

Messages emailed to the company seeking comment Monday were returned as undeliverable, while telephone calls to the company’s offices in Hillside, Illinois, failed to reach any company representative.

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BERLIN — German pharmaceutical company CureVac says it has signed a contract to produce major quantities of a COVID-19 vaccine under development in the Netherlands.

The Tuebingen company said Monday it had agreed with Munich’s Wacker Chemie AG on a contract for the production of its COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology at Wacker’s site in Amsterdam in the first half of 2021.

It plans to produce 100 million doses of the CureVac vaccine per year at the facility, and said there is potential for expansion.

CureVac says the vaccine it is developing can be stored at regular refrigerator temperatures for up to three months, and even unrefrigerated at regular room temperatures for a period of 24 hours.

CureVac isn’t as far along in its trials, however, and says it plans to initiate a phase 2b/3 clinical study before year’s end.

The European Commission last week said it has sealed an agreement to buy up to 405 million doses of CureVac’s product as part of its procurement of the vaccine from various sources.