MEDICAL worker conducts a coronavirus test on a motorist (Shutterstock).

If you hoped restrictions regarding the coronavirus pandemic would ease after the Thanksgiving weekend, you – and millions of others – may be in for disappointment.

From Hawaii to Arizona to Santa Clara County in northern California, new curbs on businesses and activities are being pronounced or considered. According to the Associated Press, in Santa Clara, all high school, college and pro sports have been banned, leaving the NFL San Francisco 49ers without a home field.   Additionally, anyone who have traveled over 150 miles outside the county is ordered to self-quarantine.’

New Jersey has suspended all youth sports and the mayor of Hawaii County ordered that visitors from the mainland without a negative COVID-19 test must quarantine for 14 days.

However, in Florida – where the number of to-date cases nears 1 million – no additional closures or restrictions have been adopted. In California, Gov Gavin Newsom warned that if the daily infections and hospitalizations continue to rise, more drastic “stay at home” measures could be enacted.

On the positive side, both American developers of a coronavirus vaccine – Moderna and Pfizer – have indicated they are asking drug regulators for emergency approval so the shots could begin this month.

The News: We didn’t stay at home; cases surge

Johns Hopkins University reported that 139,000 new cases of coronavirus in the United States were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the to-date total at almost 13.4 million. It was the 27th straight day of 100,000 or more new COVID-19 infections. USA Today is blaming the surge on air travel as many Americans ignored pleas to forgo Thanksgiving travel

• Monday’s results from Wall Street had a strong “good news/bad news” vibe. The bad news is that all three major stock indexes fell. The Dow Jones Average declined 271.73 points while the S&P 500 fell by 16.72. Nasdaq took a milder hit, dropping by just 7.11 points. On the plus side, the Dow recorded its best November since 1928 and its best month since 1987
• Wisconsin on Monday certified Joe Biden’s victory in that state after a partial recount that added to the former vice president’s 20,600-vote margin over President Donald Trump. Refusing to give up, the campaign is considering a lawsuit to disqualify up to 238,000 ballots, making unsupported allegations about fraud and other illegal acts. Earlier in the day, Arizona certified Biden’s victory. The Electoral College meets on Dec. 14 to officially select a president.

The Weather: Sunny and a bit breezy

For the West Orange County area, this week should be like San Diego during the day, but like San Francisco by night. The National Weather Service is predicting mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low- to mid-70s during the day, but overnight lows in the high 40s. Winds of five to 10 miles an hour can be expected later in the week. For the coastal (Huntington Beach) area, daytimes lows will be four to six degrees cooler, with overnight lows similar in the inland West OC cities.

Sports Today: And now it’s Wednesday … maybe

The NFL has been ambitious in recent years to expand its reach. In addition to the usual Sunday fare, there’s now a Monday night contest and another on Thursday. This week – reportedly – there will also be a Wednesday night game. The Steelers-Ravens game has been pushed around like it was on rollers because of the way the coronavirus has ravaged rosters. The latest official day was Tuesday (as in the day after today), but now ESPN is reporting that there’s a good chance that it will be further delayed to Wednesday. We’ll see

• By the way, the Monday Night Football game – Seattle vs. Philadelphia – is still on for tonight … as far as we know.