This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process. Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always.

For independent global news, visit Democracy Now!

For a newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, Letters from an American.

Friday, 27 November 2020, Day 1,407:

Some Global Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 27 November 2020: Los Angeles County Bans Private Gatherings of Multiple Households, The New York Times, Friday, 27 November 2020:

• Los Angeles County, where the virus is surging, urges residents to stay home.

• U.S. coronavirus infections shoot past 13 million as officials plead with Americans to spend Black Friday online.

• Covid is slamming U.S. hospitals with patients and robbing them of staff, pushing health systems to the edge.

• Nursing homes in the U.S. account for roughly 40 percent of Covid-19 fatalities.

• Britain moves to quickly approve a coronavirus vaccine with unclear test results.

• ‘Unprecedented learning loss’: U.S. students rack up failures as grading returns to pre-pandemic standards.

• The virus won’t stop evolving when a vaccine arrives.

• After beating back the virus, officials in East Asia are forced to recalibrate their responses.

Other significant developments are included in this article.

Presidential Transition Highlights: Appeals Court Rejects Trump Election Challenge in Pennsylvania. The ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was a complete repudiation of President Trump’s effort to halt Pennsylvania’s certification process. Mr. Trump committed to leave the White House in January if the electors vote, as expected, for President-elect Joe Biden on Dec. 14. The New York Times, Friday, 27 November 2020:

• A federal appeals court denies the Trump campaign’s challenge to a lower court loss on certifying Pennsylvania’s vote.

• ‘Certainly I will’: Trump says he’ll leave if the electors vote for Biden.

• The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist could have broad implications for the Biden administration.

• A final deregulatory rush at the E.P.A. has run into open resistance from career employees emboldened by Biden’s win.

• Empowered by an odds-defying win, Susan Collins is more influential than ever.

• Ten years ago, the Olori Sisterhood was a small-time ‘political sorority.’ Now they’re ready for a seat at the table.

• Biden’s pick to lead the Agriculture Dept. could decide the direction of U.S. hunger policy.

• Senate Democrats face a power struggle for the top job on the panel that controls judicial nominations.

Other significant developments are included in this article.

Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Killed in Ambush, State Media Say, The New York Times, Farnaz Fassihi, David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, and Ronen Bergman, Friday, 27 November 2020:

• A brazen killing took place in an ambush.
• The killing could complicate Biden’s handling of the Iran nuclear deal.
• Iran asks U.N. leader to ‘strongly condemn’ the assassination.
• The assassinated scientist had long been a target of Israel’s Mossad.
• The assassination took place amid new tensions between Trump and Iran.
• Iranian media describe an explosion and gun battle on a town’s main boulevard.
• Iran commander vows ‘we will not rest’ until scientist is avenged.

Continue reading Week 202, Friday, 27 November  – Thursday, 3 December 2020 (Days 1,407-1,413):

This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process. Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always.

For independent global news, visit Democracy Now!

For a newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, Letters from an American.

Friday, 13 November 2020, Day 1,393:

Some Global Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 13 November 2020: Lockdowns Return, and North Dakota Issues Mask Mandate. As coronavirus cases trend upward in 49 states, President Trump makes no mention of the surge at a Rose Garden event. New Mexico and Oregon announce lockdowns. The New York Times, Friday, 13 November 2020:

• More than 1 in 400 Americans test positive in a week, pushing New Jersey to a record and prompting restrictions in North Dakota.

• Trump projects a rosy view on vaccines, while Biden blasts the federal coronavirus response.

• Several states add restrictions across the country, including lockdowns in New Mexico and Oregon.

• N.Y.C.’s mayor warns that public schools could close as early as Monday if positivity rate hits 3 percent.

• At least 30 Secret Service officers test positive for the virus as others are asked to isolate.

• Fauci weighs in on celebrating Thanksgiving as the virus rages through the United States.

• These are the restrictions and mask mandates for all 50 states.

• Russian and North Korean operatives are trying to hack coronavirus research firms, Microsoft said.

Other significant developments are included in this article.

Some significant developments in the coronavirus pandemic for Friday, 13 November 2020: New Mexico is at ‘breaking point’ as U.S. shatters coronavirus case record again with 177,000 new cases, The Washington Post, Hannah Knowles, William Wan, Jacqueline Dupree, Brittany Shammas, Hamza Shaban, Miriam Berger, and Kim Bellware, Friday, 13 November 2020: “New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said the state is at a ‘breaking point’ and reinstated the country’s most restrictive statewide measures since the fall surge began, while Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced a two-week statewide ‘freeze’ on Friday, which included curbing gatherings ahead of Thanksgiving.Other states are trying to avoid full-blown shutdowns by enacting almost every other kind of restriction, as the United States reported more than 177,000 new coronavirus cases, a record high for the third straight day.

Here are a few of the significant developments included in this article.

• A coronavirus vaccine could be available to the general population as early as April, Trump said Friday.
• State and local leaders are facing once more the gut-wrenching decision of whether to order shutdowns as the coronavirus rages out of control.
• More than 130 Secret Service officers assigned to protect Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus or have had close contact with infected co-workers.
• More than 10.7 million coronavirus cases and 243,000 fatalities have been reported in the United States since February.

More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel, The Washington Post, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey, Friday, 13 November 2020: “More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing. The spread of the coronavirus — which has sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency’s core security team — is believed to be partly linked to campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the people who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation. In all, roughly 300 Secret Service officers and agents have had to isolate or quarantine since March because they were infected or exposed to infected colleagues, according to two people with knowledge of the figures.”

Continue reading Week 200, Friday, 13 November  – Thursday, 19 November 2020 (Days 1,393-1,399)

Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always. This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process.

For independent global news, visit Democracy Now!

For a newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, Letters from an American.

Friday, 30 October 2020, Day 1,379:

Some Global Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 30 October 2020: U.S. Breaks Daily Record With Over 99,000 New Cases as Coronavirus Surge Quickens. Nearly two dozen states are reporting their worst weeks ever for new cases. The S&P 500 had its worst week since March. The New York Times, Friday, 30 October 2020:

• New C.D.C. report shows how quickly the virus can spread within households, even when the first case is a child.

• Big Tech meltdown and rising virus cases lead S&P 500 to worst week since March.

• Regeneron says it will stop enrolling seriously ill Covid-19 patients in its antibody trials.

• C.D.C. advisers consider measures that would provide early vaccine access to many people of color.

• New York has a plan to allow schools in hardest-hit areas to reopen.

• Belgium locks down in a ‘last chance’ bid to keep its hospitals from collapse, and other news from around the world.

• College health officers are putting plans into place ahead of Thanksgiving break.

• Outbreaks in swing states could have election consequences.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Some significant developments in the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, 30 October 2020: U.S. reports nearly 100,000 new cases in one day as infections surge in battleground states, The Washington Post, Antonia Noori Farzan, Rick Noack, Kim Bellware, Paulina Villegas, Miriam Berger, Taylor Telford, Hannah Knowles, and Darren Sands, Friday, 30 October 2020: “The United States reported nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a day on Friday, setting a record as a fall wave of infections surge in every swing state that will be crucial to next week’s presidential election. The number of infections nationwide surpassed 9 million reported infections on Friday, just 15 days after the tally hit 8 million. At least 229,000 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus.

Here are a few of the significant developments included in this article.

• Belgian authorities on Friday announced a six-week closure of nonessential businesses and tight limits on social contacts as the country tries to stave off caseloads that could fill hospitals to capacity within a week.
• A growing number of government scientists and physicians are pushing back against the president’s political agenda when it comes to the pandemic.
• State health officials say they do not have enough money to distribute a coronavirus vaccine once it is approved.
• U.S. household spending, the primary engine of the economy, soared in September before coronavirus infections started increasing across the country, fresh economic data shows.

Trump rolled back more than 125 environmental safeguards. Here’s how. The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis, and John Muyskens, Friday, 30 October 2020: “[O]ver the course of nearly four years, [the Trump] administration has steadily loosened oversight of polluting industries, eroded protections for endangered wildlife and stymied Obama-era efforts to address the globe’s most daunting environmental threat: climate change. A Washington Post analysis has found that as Trump’s first term winds to a close, he has weakened or wiped out more than 125 rules and policies aimed at protecting the nation’s air, water and land, with 40 more rollbacks underway. The administration has accelerated its push to deregulate in the weeks before the election, to ease requirements on power plants that leak waste into waterways, weaken efficiency standards for dishwashers, scale back oversight of mine safety and approve seismic drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge.”

Continue reading Week 198, Friday, 30 October  – Thursday, 5 November 2020 (Days 1,379-1,385)

Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always. This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process.

For independent global news, visit Democracy Now!

For a newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, Letters from an American.

Friday, 16 October 2020, Day 1,365:

Some Global Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 16 October 2020: White House Coronavirus Adviser Scott Atlas Prefers ‘Herd Immunity’ Over Testing, The New York Times, Friday, 16 October 2020:

• False positive rapid tests briefly threw the N.F.L.’s Colts into disarray.

• A top White House coronavirus adviser has resisted widespread testing, pushing for a form of herd immunity instead.

• The spread through rural America has created problems in small towns that lack key resources.

• The first U.S. distribution plan for vaccines uses CVS and Walgreens to get any approved to those in long-term care.

• Latino and Black Americans are still dying in disproportionately high numbers, the C.D.C. says.

• Belgium shuts bars and restaurants and imposes a curfew to halt a spike in cases.

• ‘We are headed in the wrong direction’: The U.S. records its highest tallies since July.

• Judge upholds Cuomo’s restrictions on religious services in hot spots.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Some significant developments in the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, 16 October 2020: U.S. surpasses 64,000 new coronavirus infections two days in a row for first time since late July, The Washington Post, Antinia Noori Farzan, Jennifer Hassan, Rick Noack, Marisa Iati, Adam Taylor, Paulina Villegas, Kim Bellware, Hannah Denham, Darren Sands, and Meryl Kornfield, Friday, 16 October 2020: “For the first time since late July, the tally of newly reported coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 64,000 on Thursday and Friday. In 44 states and the District of Columbia, caseloads are higher than they were one month ago, and many of the new infections are being reported in rural areas with limited hospital capacity. More than 8,000,000 cases have been reported nationwide since February, and at least 216,000 people in the United States have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Here are a few of the significant developments included in this article.

• Pfizer will not apply for emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine until late November, backtracking on earlier assertions that the pharmaceutical company would have it ready this month.
• A person would need to sit next to an infectious passenger in a commercial flight for at least 54 hours to get infected, a Defense Department study found.
• Health-workers across the Midwest are issuing dire warnings that hospitals and health-care facilities are ‘bursting at the seams’ amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Eight hospitals in the Kansas City area in Missouri had to temporarily stop accepting ambulances Wednesday night.
• After President Trump announced he would send $200 each to older Americans to help pay for medicine, aides and Medicare officials scrambled to draft a plan. But the president’s promise has raised questions over whether such discount cards are legal, or even possible.
• Europe set a record this week for new coronavirus infections, overtaking the United States in cases per capita, and a top World Health Organization official warned Thursday that death rates on the continent this winter could be five times worse than the April peak if people are not strict about masks and social distancing.

Election 2020 Updates: Trump Holds Rallies in the South as Republicans Begin to Edge Away From Him, The New York Times, Friday, 16 October 2020:

• Senate Republicans are beginning to publicly put distance between themselves and the president.

• If he loses the election, Trump mused Friday, ‘Maybe I’ll have to leave the country.’

• Biden beat Trump in the ratings battle after the two appeared on rival network town halls.

• Senator David Perdue mockingly mispronounces Kamala Harris’s name at a rally.

• She might like Trump’s smile, but he doesn’t have her vote.

• Biden, in Michigan, vows: ‘I’ll take care of your health coverage.’

• At a rally in Florida, Trump appears to confuse a G.O.P. congressman with a former aide.

• 80 percent of election rulings by G.O.P.-appointed judges this year made voting harder, study says.

• Republicans still lead in Alaska, but it’s getting more competitive, a Times/Siena poll finds.

Many other significant developments are included in this article.

Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always. This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process.

For independent global news, visit Democracy Now!

For a newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter, Letters from an American.

Friday, 2 October 2020, Day 1,351:

Trump Tests Positive for the Coronavirus, The New York Times, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, Friday, 2 October 2020: “President Trump revealed early Friday morning that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had tested positive for the coronavirus, throwing the nation’s leadership into uncertainty and escalating the crisis posed by a pandemic that has already killed more than 207,000 Americans and devastated the economy. Mr. Trump, who for months has played down the seriousness of the virus and hours earlier on Thursday night told an audience that ‘the end of the pandemic is in sight,’ will quarantine in the White House for an unspecified period of time, forcing him to withdraw at least temporarily from the campaign trail only 32 days before the election on Nov. 3. The dramatic disclosure came in a Twitter message just before 1 a.m. after a suspenseful evening following reports that Mr. Trump’s close adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive. In her own tweet about 30 minutes later, Mrs. Trump wrote that the first couple were ‘feeling good,’ but the White House did not say whether they were experiencing symptoms. The president’s physician said he could carry out his duties ‘without disruption’ from the Executive Mansion. ‘Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19,’ Mr. Trump tweeted. ‘We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!’ Mr. Trump’s positive test result posed immediate challenges for the future of his campaign against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee, with barely a month until Election Day. Even if Mr. Trump, 74, remains asymptomatic, he will lose much of his remaining time on the campaign trail. If he becomes sick, it could raise questions about whether he should remain on the ballot at all…. During late-night conversations, aides to Mr. Trump were discussing whether he should give an address to the nation on Friday from the White House or find some other way for him to reassure the public. But the aides were still in a state of shock as they absorbed the news, and there was no immediate word on how far the infection may have spread among senior White House officials, who generally do not wear masks in deference to the president’s disdain for them.” See also, Invincibility punctured by infection: How the coronavirus spread in Trump’s White House, The Washington Post, Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, and Robert Costa, Friday, 2 October 2020: “The ceremony in the White House Rose Garden last Saturday was a triumphal flashback to the Before Times — before public health guidelines restricted mass gatherings, before people were urged to wear masks and socially distance. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed more than 150 guests as the president formally introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett, his nominee for the Supreme Court. A handful of Republican senators were there, including Mike Lee of Utah, who hugged and mingled with guests. So was Kellyanne Conway, the recently departed senior counselor to the president, as well as the Rev. John I. Jenkins, the president of the University of Notre Dame, who left his Indiana campus where a coronavirus outbreak had recently occurred to celebrate an alumna’s nomination. Spirits were high. Finally, Trump was steering the national discussion away from the coronavirus pandemic — which had already killed more than 200,000 people in the United States and was still raging — to more favorable terrain, a possible conservative realignment of the Supreme Court. Attendees were so confident that the contagion would not invade their seemingly safe space at the White House that, according to Jenkins, after guests tested negative that day they were instructed they no longer needed to cover their faces. The no-mask mantra applied indoors as well. Cabinet members, senators, Barrett family members and others mixed unencumbered at tightly packed, indoor receptions in the White House’s Diplomatic Room and Cabinet Room. Five days later, that feeling of invincibility was cruelly punctured. On Thursday, counselor to the president Hope Hicks, who reported feeling symptoms during a trip with the president to Minnesota on Wednesday, tested positive for the virus. Early Friday morning, Trump announced that he and the first lady also had tested positive and had begun isolating inside the White House residence. On Friday, Lee, Conway and Jenkins announced that they, too, had tested positive, as did Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who was at the ceremony, and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who had recently spent time with the president, including at an indoor fundraiser last week. At least three journalists who had been at White House events in the past week also reported testing positive on Friday. And White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said he was bracing for additional infections among administration officials.” See also, Trump goes to Walter Reed hospital for coronavirus treatment, The Washington Post, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Colby Itkowitz, and Toluse Olorunnipa, published on Saturday, 3 October 2020: “President Trump was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday for a stay that was expected to last several days, a move the White House said was made out of an abundance of caution after he tested positive for the deadly coronavirus and experienced symptoms…. Trump, who is 74, began taking a cocktail of drugs as a ‘precautionary measure,’ according to doctor Sean Conley, who provided only limited information about Trump’s condition or the reasons for his extended stay at Walter Reed. ‘In addition to the polyclonal antibodies, the President has been taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin,’ Conley said in a White House memo Friday afternoon, describing Trump as ‘fatigued but in good spirits.’ Conley said Trump received an 8-gram dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail via ‘infusion without incident.’ A few hours later, Trump walked to Marine One wearing a mask, then was transported to Walter Reed.” See also, Trump Tests Positive for Covid, Roiling Campaign and White House, Bloomberg, Jordan Fabian and Jennifer Jacobs, Friday, 2 October 2020: “U.S. President Donald Trump said early Friday that he has tested positive for coronavirus along with his wife and one of his closest aides, throwing an already volatile campaign into deeper disarray just one month before the election. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, underwent their routine daily Covid-19 check and tested negative, his press secretary Devin O’Malley tweeted early Friday. The election campaign of Democrat Joe Biden has focused heavily on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 200,000 Americans and deepened inequalities. Biden and others have criticized Trump’s response as slow and ineffective.” See also, Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19, CNN Politics, Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins, Betsy Klein, Jim Acosta, and Paul LeBlanc, Friday, 2 October 2020: “Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and his wife both tested positive for the coronavirus, an extraordinary development coming months into a global pandemic and in the final stretch of his reelection campaign in which he has flouted experts’ guidance on preventing the disease’s spread.” See also, Trump and first lady Melania test positive for coronavirus, The Guardian, Maanvi Singh and Peter Beaumont, Friday, 2 October 2020: “The US presidential election has been plunged into disarray after Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, tested positive for coronavirus following weeks in which the US president sought to suggest that the worst of the pandemic was over.” See also, Trump Tests Positive for the Coronavirus, and a Nation Anticipates Chaos, The New Yorker, David Remnick, Friday, 2 October 2020:  “Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for the coronavirus, an announcement which is bound to throw the Presidential race into a state of grave uncertainty, if not chaos. The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed more than two hundred thousand Americans and more than a million people worldwide. From the very beginning of the pandemic, Trump has denied or diminished the seriousness of covid-19, from its initial outbreak in China to its spread to Europe and beyond. In interviews with Bob Woodward, for the journalist’s book ‘Rage,’ Trump admitted that he well understood from advisers how lethal and fast-spreading the disease could be, but in public statements he downplayed the danger, saying repeatedly that the virus would disappear with the summer’s warm weather and that there was little to worry about. To the despair of the scientific and medical communities, which have uniformly said that the disease can be best contained if people wear protective masks and maintain a social distance, Trump has repeatedly flouted their advice and touted disreputable treatments. As recently as Tuesday’s Presidential debate, in Cleveland, Trump mocked his opponent, Joe Biden, for wearing masks and practicing social distancing. ” See also, ‘This was avoidable’: Trump had been downplaying the virus from the start. In recent weeks, Trump has put himself and others at risk by holding mass gatherings, some indoors, and shunning mask use while claiming the end of the virus was just around the corner. NBC News, Shannon Pettypiece, Friday, 2 October 2020: “After months of publicly rejecting the advice of his own medical experts, President Donald Trump has fallen victim to his own false narrative around the risks of the coronavirus and how to avoid getting infected. The news early Friday that the president and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19 came as a jolt — but medical experts said it shouldn’t have. In recent weeks, Trump, 74, has put his health and the health of his staff at risk by holding mass gatherings, some indoors, and shunning mask use while claiming that the end of the virus was just around the corner. In turn, his staff, his family members and his supporters have followed his lead. He may have been infected by one of his top aides, Hope Hicks, who works in a White House that has disregarded every workplace recommendation for social distancing, with few people wearing masks, no efforts made to spread out desks and staff members’ cramming into meeting rooms. His campaign has routinely packed thousands of supporters into rallies where masks are booed by the crowd. ‘This was avoidable. This did not have to happen if they were practicing the proper procedures and not going to these rallies and having these chaotic events, where, of course, airborne exposure was going to happen despite it being in an outdoor setting,’ said NBC News contributor Dr. Vin Gupta, a lung specialist at the University of Washington. ‘No masking, no distancing — what did they expect was going to happen?'” See also, The Busy Week When Trump Met the Coronavirus. He disparaged masks, encouraged big campaign crowds and employed an often-unreliable test to keep him safe. All the while it turned out the virus was nearby. The New York Times, Michael D. Shear, Maggie Haberman, and Kenneth P. Vogel, Friday, 2 October 2020.

Trump Kept Regular Schedule After Learning Close Aide Hope Hicks Had Covid-19, Bloomberg, Jennifer Jacobs and Josh Wingrove, Friday, 2 October 2020: “President Donald Trump learned on Thursday morning that his aide Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus, yet continued on with a full schedule of events, including a fundraiser at his New Jersey resort that raised $5 million, according to people familiar with the situation. Trump’s movements are being closely scrutinized since he later tested positive for coronavirus, announcing the news shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, Washington time. The White House has not said when Trump first tested positive for the virus, but Trump said late Thursday he was awaiting results. In between learning the news of Hicks’ infection Thursday morning and announcing his own early Friday, Trump stuck to his prepared schedule. That decision would appear to contradict the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance on COVID, which reads: ‘Even if you test negative for COVID-19 or feel healthy, you should stay home (quarantine) since symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus.'”

Joe Biden calls Trump’s positive test a ‘bracing reminder’ of the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, CNN Politics, Eric Bradner, Sarah Mucha, and Kate Sullivan, Friday, 2 October 2020: “Joe Biden said President Donald Trump‘s positive test for coronavirus is a ‘bracing reminder’ of the seriousness of the pandemic. ‘We have to take this virus seriously. It’s not going away automatically,’ the former vice president said Friday in a speech during a pared-back trip to Michigan that followed Biden testing negative for the virus in the morning. ‘We have to do our part to be responsible. It means following the science, listening to the experts, washing our hands, social distancing. It means wearing a mask in public. It means encouraging others to do so as well.’ Wearing a mask and standing in front of an American flag in the parking lot of a union hall in Grand Rapids, the Democratic nominee said he and his wife, Jill Biden, send their ‘prayers for the health and safety’ of Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who also tested positive. He also implored Americans to wear masks — a message he has delivered for months, but with political implications that were difficult to miss after Trump’s entourage had ignored the Cleveland Clinic’s rules requiring masks at Tuesday night’s debate, while Biden’s guests wore masks. ‘Be patriotic,’ Biden said. ‘It’s not about being a tough guy. It’s about doing your part. Wearing a mask is not only going to protect you, but it also protects those around you. Your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, husband, wife, neighbor, co-worker. Don’t just do it for yourself. Do it for the people you love, the people you work with.'”

Continue reading Week 194, Friday, 2 October – Thursday, 8 October 2020 (Days 1,351-1,357)