State: 384 cases and 5 COVID-19 deaths as Phase 3 begins

Here are the most important things to know about the coronavirus in Connecticut:

Oct. 8 384 cases and 5 COVID deaths as Phase 3 begins

Gov. Ned Lamont announced an additional five deaths from COVID-19 Thursday, as the state begins Phase 3 of reopening, increasing indoor capacity in restaurants and opening up arts venues. The state also logged an additional one-day increase of 384 CO

VID-19 cases, and a positivity rate of

1.4 percent.

White House chief adviser lays out vaccine approval for after November election

A chief adviser to the White House’s Operation Warp Speed this week laid out a timetable for vaccine approval, after Nov. 3. On Tuesday, Moncef Slaoui told a symposium run by Johns Hopkins University that “Nobody can really say when,” a vaccine would be approved, “but the expectation would be that this would happen between the month of November and December.”

European Union secures 400 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

The European Union has secured 400 million doses of a vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson, one of four U.S.-made vaccine candidates in late-stage trials. “The contract allows member states to purchase vaccines for 200 million people. They will also have the possibility to purchase vaccines for an additional 200 million people,” the EU commission said in a statement, as reported by Reuters. The E.U. has already signed similar deals with drugmakers AstraZeneca and Sanofi, which are also working on vaccine candidates.

U.S. ranked nine of 19 for pandemic management

The U.S. ranks ninth of 19 nations in terms of public perception of pandemic management, according to a new tool developed by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and the City University of New York. The U.S. was rated highly in terms of income, food and shelter aid, but did not perform as well, in the view of survey respondents in terms of government cooperation with other nations and global agencies.

500,000 sharks could die for COVID-19 vaccine, conservationists say

A conservationist group says that as many as 500,000 sharks could be killed to provide a coronavirus vaccine to the world’s population. Squalene, used as an emulsifier in many vaccines, is often derived from shark liver oil. California-based Shark Allies has put together a Change.org petition to encourage the world’s drugmakers to use squalene from other sources. The organization estimates that, depending on the vaccine, as many as 500,000 sharks could be killed to provide two vaccine doses globally.