ALBANY, N.Y. – New York is among several states limiting private gatherings to no more than 10 people, a move aimed at stopping large get-togethers, particularly during Thanksgiving, to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

Now they face the challenge of trying to enforce it amid skepticism even from law enforcement.

“I have no plans to utilize my office’s resources or deputies to break up the great tradition of Thanksgiving dinner,” Timothy Howard, the sheriff in Erie County in western New York, said in a statement.

“My office will respect the sanctity of your home and traditions, and I encourage you to follow your heart and act responsibly, as well as do what's best for your family.”

Northeast states like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have put stricter private gathering policies into place, encouraging residents to simply limit their parties during the holidays as the states try to fight against a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"I or any of us can’t be inside your living room for Thanksgiving," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. "You probably wouldn’t want us to begin with, but that does not mean that we, as an enforcement matter, are not going to be as all over it as we can be."

Stopping the 'living room spread'

The governors can use public health orders to impose restrictions during the pandemic, as they have with closing businesses or mandating the wearing of masks in public spaces.

Gov. Murphy said Monday that indoor gatherings in New Jersey will now be limited to 10 people, down from 25, and the outdoor capacity will be lowered to 150, down from 500.

But the state is still allowing religious services, political events, performances, weddings and funerals and memorial services of up to 25% of a room’s capacity, up to 150 people.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week banned indoor and outdoor gatherings at private residences from having more than 10 people.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and North Carolina have similar rules, while Nebraska plans to do the same if hospitalizations pass a certain threshold.

"We call it 'living room spread,'" Cuomo said Friday. "'But I'm just with my family. My family would never infect me.' Your family's not in control of it."

Northeast states could release more joint restrictions in the coming days, especially as college students are coming home for Thanksgiving break and in most cases not returning to campus until early 2021, Murphy said.

How New York's indoor gathering ban can be enforced

States have the ability to enforce public health orders and issue fines to those who do not comply.

In New York, a violation of any order from the state health commissioner, public health law or rule can, when it is willful, come with as much as a $10,000 fine. It's lower for violations of orders applying to most private residences: $50 for a first offense, and $500 for subsequent offenses, according to state law.

But how that would apply to the state's indoor capacity limit is unclear. It's a question law enforcement is also unsure how to answer, said Peter Kehoe, executive director of the New York State Sheriffs' Association.

He said police would like more clarity as to how they could enforce the indoor limit.

"I’m sure law enforcement would be very willing to do their job and enforce that law, but to leave them hanging out there will with all this speculative stuff is not fair to law enforcement," Kehoe said.

And some sheriffs are saying they will not enforce the order in their communities.

“People have enough anxiety in their life without thinking that the police are going to come to their door and check on how many people are there,” Richard Giardino, the Republican sheriff in Fulton County in central New York, told the Times Union in Albany.

Another New York sheriff, Patrick Russo in Rensselaer County, said that if a call comes in to check on a residence, it could take hours to get a search warrant for a home.

But he urged residents to use common sense and follow best practices, such as wearing masks when social distancing is not possible, and washing hands frequently.

Asked Monday how the New York Department of Health suggests local governments can ensure the capacity limit is followed, the agency issued a statement urging local governments to enforce it but did not offer specifics on how to do so.

“Two keys to slowing COVID are individual compliance and local enforcement," spokeswoman Jill Montag said in the statement.

"While local law enforcement should do their jobs, it's up to all New Yorkers to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 by following state guidelines, wearing masks, practicing social distancing and proper hygiene, and staying home when they are sick."

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, said the goal is to try to keep people safe during the holidays and prevent further spread of the virus.

"We urge everyone to continue to be smart and act responsibly," he said. "We know this makes people unhappy, but better unhappy than sick or worse."/ US Today

ANKARA

Amazon opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to purchase prescription medications using its website or mobile app.

Consumers can add insurance information, manage prescriptions and choose payment options using a secure pharmacy profile at Amazon Pharmacy, the company said.

Amazon Prime members who do not have insurance can save up to 80% on generic prescription medications and 40% for brand name medications. Prime members also receive unlimited, free two-day delivery on orders, the company said.

"We work hard behind the scenes to handle complications seamlessly so anyone who needs a prescription can understand their options, place their order for the lowest available price, and have their medication delivered quickly," TJ Parker, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy, said in a statement.

Vice President of Amazon Prime Jamil Ghani said the company is well aware of the importance to access affordable medication and the company believes Prime members will find "tremendous value" with the new prescription savings benefit.

"Our goal is for Prime to make members’ lives easier and more convenient every day, and we’re excited to extend the incredible savings, seamless shopping experience, and fast, free delivery members know and love with Prime to Amazon Pharmacy," Ghani added.

The company said its online pharmacy, PillPack, that the company spent more than $750 million to buy in 2018, would continue to work, focusing on shipping medication to patients with chronic conditions./aa

•             TikTok, the video-based mobile app increasingly popular with young users, announced Tuesday new tools for parents to limit their children's activities on the platform.

•             Among other changes, the application, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, will now allow parents to limit whether their teens can use the search function and whether their account is private or public to other users.

•             TikTok has been the subject of numerous privacy concerns from US lawmakers related to its Chinese ownership, although the app has made steps toward assuaging fears by securing Oracle as its "technology partner" in the US.

TikTok, the vertical video-based social media platform immensely popular with Gen Z, announced Tuesday new tools to allow parents to more strictly monitor and police their children's usage on the app.

Parents of users 13 to 18 years old will now be able to limit whether their children can use the search function, which is used to discover creator profiles, hashtags, and sounds in the app's expansive library of music and other audio, the company announced. Parents will also be able to decide who can comment on their kids' videos, whether their accounts are public or private to other users, and whether other users can see what videos their children have liked.

The changes are an extension of TikTok's Family Pairing program, launched in April, which allows parents to connect their accounts to their children's accounts to their own in order to monitor and limit how their kids use the app.

Under Family Pairing, the company has previously allowed parents to limit how long their children spend on TikTok, offered a "restricted" mode to limit "content that may not be appropriate for all audiences," and decide whether their children can use the app's direct messaging function.

"Our aim is to strike a balance between safety and autonomy for teenagers as we work to create a safe and supportive place for self-expression," the company said in a statement announcing the new controls on Tuesday.

TikTok has been the subject of concerns from US lawmakers, and namely President Donald Trump, over its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance (although the company in September reached an agreement for US company Oracle to become its "technology partner" in the US).

Last year, TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations it had illegally collected the personal information of its child users.

The US Commerce Department earlier in November said it wouldn't enforce the president's executive order that would have effectively banned the app from operating in the US after a judge previously issued an injunction against the order. TikTok has regularly denied that it shares US user data with the Chinese government.

Business Insider

 ATHENS(AA)

Police used tear gas and water cannons on protesters gathered here to commemorate the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising against the Greek military dictatorship.

Protesters from mostly left-wing groups and parties gathered in the capital despite a ban on marches and rallies as a precaution to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The ban prevented large-scale marches held annually on Nov. 17.

Clashes were reported with police dispersing demonstrators.

Media reports said some protesters gathered in Thessaloniki and were also later dispersed by police.

About 5,000 officers, with support from helicopters and drones, have been deployed in Athens.

Leftist opposition Syriza, the Communist Party of Greece (KEE) and the Mera25 Party opposed the government's decision.

Nov. 17 marks the Athens Polytechnic Uprising in 1973, when students held a massive demonstration against the Greek military junta who ruled from 1967 - 1974.

• Bill Gates doesn't understand why people resist wearing masks, he said on the first episode of his new podcast with actress Rashida Jones. 
• What are these, like nudists?" the Microsoft founder said. "We ask you to wear pants. No American — or very few Americans — say that that's like some terrible thing." 
• Gates said experts first based recommendations on what they knew about other respiratory viruses, but COVID-19 turned out to be much different. Now the evidence in favor of masks is "overwhelming." 
• The premiere episode of Jones and Gates' new podcast series, "Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions," includes an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

The evidence is overwhelming: Masks work to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

In places where they're mandated, rates of COVID-19 sink, and one recent model estimates that if all Americans wore them, 63,000 more US deaths could be prevented by March.

But not all Americans are on board, snubbing the face coverings as a political statement against science and for independence.

Bill Gates doesn't get them.

"The idea that somebody is resisting wearing a mask, that is such a weird thing to me," the billionaire Microsoft founder and philanthropist told actress and comedian Rashida Jones on the first episode of their new podcast series, "Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions,"released today.

"What are these, like nudists?" he asked. "We ask you to wear pants. No American says, or very few Americans say, that that's like some terrible thing."

Jones agreed. "If you want to get back to normal life any time sooner, wear a mask, or don't wear a mask and stay at home," she said. "But to ask for both things sounds like you just want things to be better and they're not, so you kind of just have to deal with what it is."

"The mask helps you open up more things," Gates said.

Gates explained why masks weren't expected to be so important early in the pandemic

In the episode, Jones asks Gates why health experts didn't always think masks were effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Gates said early on, experts based their advice on what they knew about other respiratory viruses, like the common cold and flu. In those cases, the illness may spread when people cough, but far less readily than COVID-19, which can jump between people who are merely talking.  

"These unbelievable viral loads that you see with the coronavirus don't occur with most of the other respiratory viruses," Gates said.

For example, if someone with a cold spent an hour, maskless, in a room with others, most people would remain healthy. But if a maskless person with COVID-19 spends an hour in a room with others, "a high percentage" would wind up sick. "That's like the measles," he said.

"Our model of flu with coughing turned out to be wrong."

COVID-19's ability to spread when people are asymptomatic is unusual too, he said. So while people with a cold or flu tend to stay home when they're contagious simply because they don't feel well, people with COVID-19 can be walking around feeling healthy and unknowingly infecting those around them.

Experts have also learned during this pandemic that homemade cloth masks, ideally with three layers, help prevent the spread of disease. Early on, they only thought N95 or medical grade masks worked, and wanted the limited supply to be saved for healthcare workers.

But now, Gates said, "it's overwhelmingly clear that the upside [of mask-wearing] is gigantic." Here's a chart showing which types of masks are most effective for various situations.

The podcast's first episode features an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci

Gates and Jones' podcast series promises "to tackle some of the biggest questions facing us today," including whether it's too late to solve climate change or if inequality is inevitable. Jones positions herself as the pessimist; Gates, the optimist.

In their first episode, the pair calls top infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who discusses what a vaccine rollout could look like, and why it's important to continue mask-wearing and other public health measures when such a rollout begins.

"One of the things we're dealing with is a degree of essentially fatigue that people have about going through this. It's amazing, it's almost like a distortion of time, Rashida," Fauci said.

"I want to tell people, 'Don't give up, this is going to end, science is going to help us with a vaccine and therapy, and if we pay attention to the public health measures, we can gain control of it."

Business Insider

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday warned that the biggest threat to the country and to his transition posed by President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 race is that “more people may die.”

Biden made the stark warning during remarks about the economy from Wilmington, Delaware, during which he was asked by NBC News’s Geoff Bennett about the dangers created by Trump’s delay in the transfer of power to Biden.

“More people may die, if we don't coordinate,” Biden replied.

Biden added that getting a Covid-19 vaccine to over 300 million Americans is a “huge, huge, huge undertaking” that would be further complicated by a delay by the White House to initiate the presidential transition.

“If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month and a half. And so it's important that it be done, that there be coordination now. Now or as rapidly as we can get that done,” Biden said.

White House spokesman Judd Deere pushed back on Biden's assertion that the delays could lead to deaths, calling them "irresponsible and not based on fact" and adding that the CDC’s vaccine distribution playbook is publicly available.

More than nine days after media outlets projected that Biden had defeated Trump to win the White House, Trump's General Services Administration hasn’t actually officially declared Biden the victor in the 2020 race. That process, known as "ascertainment,” has been a mostly uncontroversial process since the passage of the Presidential Transition Act nearly 60 years ago.

“I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to Jan. 20,” Biden said, referring to the lack of transition cooperation from the White House.

Biden's warning came just hours after Dr. Anthony Fauci stressed his concern that the Trump administration has not yet greenlighted the formal transition to the incoming Biden administration, which the infectious disease expert said is key to the quick distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine.

In an interview on NBC's "TODAY" show, host Savannah Guthrie asked Fauci whether he's concerned that the Trump administration has not signed off on the formal transition period for the Biden team.

"Obviously, it's something that we're concerned about," he said. "I mean, as you know, I've served in six administrations, so I've seen a number of transitions and I know that transitions are very important. Hopefully, we'll see that soon."

In other transition news:

•             Biden and Harris will receive a briefing on national security in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday, the transition team said in a statement. It is unclear if it will be an official briefing in coordination with the Trump administration, but the transition team has previously said it would bring in outside national security experts to prepare the president-elect.

•             Georgia officials told NBC News on Monday roughly 2,600 ballots cast during early voting in Floyd County did not get properly counted on election night and were discovered during the ongoing audit, with the bulk of the votes for Trump. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office says this will cut Trump’s loss in the state down by around 800 votes. It will not affect the outcome of the presidential election, either in Georgia or nationwide. However, Trump’s campaign is already seizing on the issue on Twitter.

•             Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., will join the Biden administration in a senior role, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News. Richmond, a co-chairman of Biden's campaign and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, leaves a safe Democratic seat in Louisiana, where he has a news conference scheduled for Tuesday morning to “address future of 2nd Congressional District.” His new role has a portfolio that includes public engagement, the sources said. Politico first reported the news.

•             Biden is expected to pick Jen O’Malley Dillon, who served as his campaign manager, as a deputy chief of staff, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

•             Biden held a briefing with labor leaders and the CEOs of General Motors, Gap, Microsoft and Target before his remarks in Wilmington.

•             Biden's transition team is working with recently departed Justice Department attorneys as well as former law enforcement personnel to get a window into the current administration, NBC News reported.

•             Former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said he'd be open to a job in the Biden administration. Buttigieg, who became a top surrogate for Biden during the campaign, said in an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" that he "would love a chance to return to public service, but that's for the president-elect to decide. This administration is going to have enthusiastic support from me whether I'm on the inside or the outside."

•             Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Biden to free funding for the Gateway rail tunnel, which would connect New York and New Jersey, as soon as he can after he's sworn in. The $30 billion project has been stalled by the Trump administration, despite Trump's public support of the project.

•             Michelle Obama urged the administration to let the official transition process move forward, saying playing along with "groundless conspiracy theories" is putting our "health and security in danger."

•             The Trump campaign has withdrawn a key piece of its Pennsylvania election lawsuit in which lawyers falsely claimed GOP poll watchers were not allowed to view the processing of ballots.

•             Trump national security adviser Robert O'Brien took a much less defiant tone on the election results in remarks at a global security forum than his boss, saying "if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — and obviously things look that way now — we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council."

Fauci said that health care experts project that by the end of December, there will be doses of vaccines available for people in the high-risk category from both Pfizer and Moderna, which announced Monday that its vaccine candidate in phase 3 trials is 94.5 percent effective.

"The vaccines are effective. We want to get it approved as quickly as we possibly can. We want to get doses to people starting in December, and then we want to really get the ball rolling as we get into January, February and March," Fauci said. "We want a smooth process with that and the way you do that is by essentially having the two groups speak to each other and exchange information."

Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican and a frequent Trump critic, described Biden's win as "overwhelming" at an event hosted by the Ronald Reagan Institute on Monday. Asked when he thought Trump should concede, he said, “The time has come.”

“I mean, more and more people, very close supporters and friends of the president, are all giving him that advice. He’s just not listening,” Hogan said.

One supporter who's not urging Trump to pack it in despite trailing Biden in the electoral college tally, 232-306, and by over 5.5 million votes in the popular vote is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C.

“It's not my job to tell the president when he needs to stop fighting in courts, when he needs to stop asking for recounts," Graham said. "He has every right.”

“All y'all are all over us cause you want the guy to lose. If the shoe were on the other foot, you'd be asking questions about widespread fraud,” Graham said.

The United States surpassed more than 11 million Covid-19 on Sunday, as the third wave of the virus continued its uncontrolled spread, new restrictions were introduced, and Americans weighed whether and how they can celebrate Thanksgiving.

The U.S. recorded more than 1 million new cases this past week alone, including 156,416 on Saturday, which marked the eleventh day in a row that the United States recorded more than 100,000 daily cases. More than a dozen states, including New Hampshire, Maryland, Colorado, and Montana, all broke daily records of cases on Saturday as well. Georgia was the only state in the country to see a decrease in cases over the past 14 days.

In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the closure of indoor dining on Sunday, which will take effect at the end of Monday and last through Dec. 14. He also limited in-store retail to 25 percent occupancy. Indoor fitness facilities and gyms are to fully close. The decision comes shortly after Illinois did the same. In Chicago, a stay-at-home order that will last 30 days begins Monday, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot warning that a huge increase in death could result without one.

In Mount Vernon, New York, next to early Covid-19 hotspot New Rochelle, the city also issued a “stay-at-home advisory” that will begin Monday. citing the virus’ resurgence in New York. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that schools would remain open, as the positivity rate creeps towards the 3 percent that would trigger a shutdown.

In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis brought his state back into Phase 1, as 1,100 people in the state are hospitalized with the coronavirus. The governor is hoping to increase hospital bed capacity by at least 50 percent, and is asking hospitals to continue to planning to convert medical and surgical beds to ICU beds if necessary.

And in Michigan, where officials said soaring case counts could soon lead to 1,000 deaths a week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a new order Sunday partially shutting down venues like restaurants, bars and schools. The three-week order also limits family gatherings, suspends organized sports that aren't professional or university-level and extends a mask mandate for indoor and outdoor gatherings.

“We’re seeing more cases in more places than ever,” Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director under President Barack Obama, told the “TODAY” show Sunday.

More than 60,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with the virus, which Frieden predicts will rise to at least 100,000 in the next month.

“Unfortunately, that means changing our Thanksgiving plans,” Frieden said, who recommends that people do not travel for the holiday and avoid “crowded, indoor spaces.”

“Traveling from one place to another, meeting inside with lots of families for a long time without masks, that’s a formula for a massive explosion,” he said. “Unless we change our Thanksgiving plans, we are going to have a very unmerry Christmas, I’m afraid.”

As numbers increase, so, too, has the emotional toll on families. In San Antonio, Texas, 4-year-old Raiden Gonzalez lost both his parents to the virus. His father died in June at 33, and his mother in October at 29.

“Just this morning he told me that he wishes he had his mom back and he just wanted her back,” Raiden’s grandmother Rozie Salinas, said.

Healthcare workers are feeling the burden too as the virus only gets worse. “Everyone feels like they ran a marathon and now we’re being asked to do an ironman, and now we’re just tired,” Dr. Michelle Prickett, of Northwestern University Hospital, told “TODAY.”