From Thursday
"If you did not know that Joe Biden was getting close to 270, Donald Trump just provided all the proof you will ever need." pic.twitter.com/urOeCrbzHr
— A Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 6, 2020
Nov 8, 2020
Today's Tweet
Nov 7, 2020
Election Update
Still a ways to go - there will be tantrums and lawsuits and possibly violent outbursts - but we're gettin' there.
And btw - we just elected the first-ever woman Veep, and the first-ever POC Veep.
And I'm tickled all to pieces to say,
disregard all that shit down there.
Where We At?
Simple answers: We don't know where we're at. We only know we're not where we need to be, but we might have a bead on it, and there are some faint glimmering indications that we're moving slowly in the right direction.
We think.
We hope.
Maybe.
Dunno yet.
The AP has made the call for Biden in Arizona, but no one else has joined them in that one.
The prospects that North Carolina will flip are very dim, and nobody knows what the fuck Alaska's doing.
So that gives us 3 states to concentrate on: Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.
Let me just take a short moment right here to reiterate my thinking on how much the Electoral College sucks.
I'm all for protecting the rights of minority parties, but the EC (and the Senate) have been unduly and unfairly and dishonorably weaponized to make them tools of oppression when the GOP is in power, and an effective bagful of sand that an asshole like Mitch McConnell can pour in the gearbox when they aren't.
This shit has to change.
Anyway, Biden is up, and even though we're going to have a shitty time of it for a while, eventually he's going to be President-Elect Joe Biden.
Prob'ly.
Did everybody notice the cutesy bullshit of Nevada actually putting "none of the above" on their ballot?
You want better candidates? Fine - me too. But you know what - maybe you could get up off your fucking ass and go find one for us. I've got zero patience for that whiny-butt bullshit.
Show up or shut up.
Speaking of Showing Up: There're 210 million adults here in USAmerica Inc, and while this election turned us out in big numbers, Voter Participation still came in under 70%.
COVID-19 Update
World
🥇 10 MILLION 🏆
U.S. sets another daily record for coronavirus cases as some states struggle
The nation registered more than 128,000 new coronavirus infections Friday, a third consecutive single-day record, as the runaway pandemic continued its spread across the American heartland and reached deep into Florida, Texas and other parts of the country.
Illinois set a staggering record for the state of 11,790 confirmed and probable cases for the day, a much greater total than recorded Friday by more populous states such as California and New York. Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and North Dakota also were among the states grappling with unprecedented cases of the coronavirus.
“It is community spread everywhere,” said Jaline Gerardin, an epidemiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. In part, the greater numbers are the result of the increased availability of testing, she said. But the main problem was allowing the virus to simmer at fairly high levels throughout the summer, particularly among young people who congregated in bars and restaurants against expert advice.
- and -
WaPo:
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tests positive for coronavirus
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for the coronavirus, and told others not to disclose his condition, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Meadows was at the White House early Wednesday as President Trump spoke about the election.
The diagnosis, first reported by Bloomberg News, comes a little more than a month after Trump and other members of his family and inner circle also tested positive for coronavirus. Two weeks later, at least five aides or advisers to Vice President Pence were infected.
The repeated infections within the White House underscore the attitude with which the administration has handled the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 235,000 Americans since February. Trump and his allies, including Meadows, have frequently flouted public health guidelines and continued to hold large indoor gatherings where few people wear masks or socially distance.
- New Cases: 623,260 (⬆︎ 1.27%)
- New Deaths: 9,132 (⬆︎ .74%)
USA
- New Cases: 132,540 (⬆︎ 1.33%) 🥳 NEW RECORD! 🎉
- New Deaths: 1,248 (⬆︎ .52%)
U.S. sets another daily record for coronavirus cases as some states struggle
The nation registered more than 128,000 new coronavirus infections Friday, a third consecutive single-day record, as the runaway pandemic continued its spread across the American heartland and reached deep into Florida, Texas and other parts of the country.
Illinois set a staggering record for the state of 11,790 confirmed and probable cases for the day, a much greater total than recorded Friday by more populous states such as California and New York. Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and North Dakota also were among the states grappling with unprecedented cases of the coronavirus.
“It is community spread everywhere,” said Jaline Gerardin, an epidemiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. In part, the greater numbers are the result of the increased availability of testing, she said. But the main problem was allowing the virus to simmer at fairly high levels throughout the summer, particularly among young people who congregated in bars and restaurants against expert advice.
- and -
WaPo:
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tests positive for coronavirus
The diagnosis, first reported by Bloomberg News, comes a little more than a month after Trump and other members of his family and inner circle also tested positive for coronavirus. Two weeks later, at least five aides or advisers to Vice President Pence were infected.
The repeated infections within the White House underscore the attitude with which the administration has handled the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 235,000 Americans since February. Trump and his allies, including Meadows, have frequently flouted public health guidelines and continued to hold large indoor gatherings where few people wear masks or socially distance.
Nov 6, 2020
COVID-19 Update
World
A poll worker knew she had the coronavirus and worked Election Day anyway
New Cases: 611,991 (⬆︎ 1.26%)
New Deaths: 8,767 (⬆︎ .71%)
USA
New Cases: 118,319 (⬆︎ 1.21%) 🥳 NEW RECORD! 🎉
New Deaths: 1,127 (⬆︎ .47%)
Why we can't have nice things.
A poll worker knew she had the coronavirus and worked Election Day anyway
She died soon after
Less than a week before Election Day, an election judge supervisor in Missouri who was scheduled to work the polls got her coronavirus test results. She was positive, a private lab told her on Oct. 30, which meant she had to isolate for two weeks.
Instead, the unidentified St. Charles County, Mo., resident showed up and worked the polls on Tuesday. She died soon afterward, the St. Charles County Department of Public Health revealed Thursday.
As of late Thursday evening, the woman’s exact time and cause of death was not known, Mary Enger, a spokeswoman for St. Charles County, told The Washington Post. Authorities have not made the woman’s identity public.
Nearly 2,000 voters cast ballots on Election Day at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site where the woman worked, but it’s unclear whether any voter might have had direct contact with her.
“We don’t have any idea how many people would have had contact with this person,” Enger told The Post.
Some St. Charles County residents who voted at the polling place told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they are angry and concerned about the potential exposure.
“For me to show up and do my civic duty … and to be exposed in that instance when I have been as careful as I have,” Maggie Pohlmeier, a St. Charles doctor and mom, told the Post-Dispatch. “I am completely irate over this.”
In the past week, the number of new daily reported coronavirus cases in Missouri rose by 20.6 percent, according to The Post’s coronavirus tracker. On Thursday, Missouri reported 3,553 new cases — the highest spike in cases the state has witnessed since mid-October.
At least 196,576 cases have been reported in the state since February, according to The Post’s coronavirus tracker. At least 3,106 deaths have been reported in that same period.
As a supervisor, Enger said, the woman would not have been typically in charge of activities that required close interactions with voters, such as handling tablets, distributing styluses or checking voter IDs.
But voters who experience issues with their registration would normally talk with an election judge supervisor like the woman in this case, St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr, told the Post-Dispatch. Bahr said he did not know if any voter had interacted with this worker, who was one of two election supervisor judges at the polling location.
Epidemiologists have begun contacting the other nine election workers who were present at the polling site that day, Enger said, and advised them all to get coronavirus tests. Contact tracers are also in touch with the woman’s relatives to determine any places she might have visited before testing positive.
Enger told The Post she was unaware if any voters who attended the polling site that day were presenting any symptoms or whether they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines noting that those who tested positive for the coronavirus could still cast their ballots in person, as previously reported by The Post.
“Voters have the right to vote, regardless of whether they are sick or in quarantine,” the CDC says on their website. Under federal law, turning someone away from a polling site is considered illegal and an act of voter intimidation.
But this was not the recommendation for poll workers. Another guidance document updated by the agency last week advised sick poll workers to stay home.
“Poll workers who are sick, have tested positive for COVID-19, or have recently had a close contact with a person with COVID-19 should stay home,” the agency’s guidance said.
At first, St. Charles County election officials told poll workers they would not be required to wear masks on Election Day, the Post-Dispatch reported. In September, the paper reported that election officials also told poll workers in a leaked email to “act surprised” if voters asked why they were not wearing masks. But the county walked back that advice after blowback.
All of the county’s poll workers, who were separated from voters by plexiglass barriers on Tuesday, were required to wear masks or face shields at all times, Bahr said in a news release. The polling site was also sanitized throughout the day, he added.
Other residents who cast their ballots at the site told the Post-Dispatch that they saw voters and election workers at the site wearing masks. The site also provided individually wrapped pens, Catherine Eberle, a home health nurse who brought her children with her, told the Post-Dispatch. The precautions made her feel “perfectly safe” in the moment.
But Eberle, 31, told the newspaper that the news of the worker testing positive has left her feeling angry.
“I just wish more people would have more concern for other people around them, not just for themselves,” Eberle told the Post-Dispatch.
Authorities are now asking everyone who was present at the site on Tuesday to closely monitor themselves for symptoms. County poll workers were not tested for the virus nor asked if they were positive before they worked Election Day, Bahr told the Post-Dispatch.
“If we had known anybody was positive, we would have asked them not to work,” Bahr told the paper.
Less than a week before Election Day, an election judge supervisor in Missouri who was scheduled to work the polls got her coronavirus test results. She was positive, a private lab told her on Oct. 30, which meant she had to isolate for two weeks.
Instead, the unidentified St. Charles County, Mo., resident showed up and worked the polls on Tuesday. She died soon afterward, the St. Charles County Department of Public Health revealed Thursday.
As of late Thursday evening, the woman’s exact time and cause of death was not known, Mary Enger, a spokeswoman for St. Charles County, told The Washington Post. Authorities have not made the woman’s identity public.
Nearly 2,000 voters cast ballots on Election Day at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site where the woman worked, but it’s unclear whether any voter might have had direct contact with her.
“We don’t have any idea how many people would have had contact with this person,” Enger told The Post.
Some St. Charles County residents who voted at the polling place told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they are angry and concerned about the potential exposure.
“For me to show up and do my civic duty … and to be exposed in that instance when I have been as careful as I have,” Maggie Pohlmeier, a St. Charles doctor and mom, told the Post-Dispatch. “I am completely irate over this.”
In the past week, the number of new daily reported coronavirus cases in Missouri rose by 20.6 percent, according to The Post’s coronavirus tracker. On Thursday, Missouri reported 3,553 new cases — the highest spike in cases the state has witnessed since mid-October.
At least 196,576 cases have been reported in the state since February, according to The Post’s coronavirus tracker. At least 3,106 deaths have been reported in that same period.
As a supervisor, Enger said, the woman would not have been typically in charge of activities that required close interactions with voters, such as handling tablets, distributing styluses or checking voter IDs.
But voters who experience issues with their registration would normally talk with an election judge supervisor like the woman in this case, St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr, told the Post-Dispatch. Bahr said he did not know if any voter had interacted with this worker, who was one of two election supervisor judges at the polling location.
Epidemiologists have begun contacting the other nine election workers who were present at the polling site that day, Enger said, and advised them all to get coronavirus tests. Contact tracers are also in touch with the woman’s relatives to determine any places she might have visited before testing positive.
Enger told The Post she was unaware if any voters who attended the polling site that day were presenting any symptoms or whether they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines noting that those who tested positive for the coronavirus could still cast their ballots in person, as previously reported by The Post.
“Voters have the right to vote, regardless of whether they are sick or in quarantine,” the CDC says on their website. Under federal law, turning someone away from a polling site is considered illegal and an act of voter intimidation.
But this was not the recommendation for poll workers. Another guidance document updated by the agency last week advised sick poll workers to stay home.
“Poll workers who are sick, have tested positive for COVID-19, or have recently had a close contact with a person with COVID-19 should stay home,” the agency’s guidance said.
At first, St. Charles County election officials told poll workers they would not be required to wear masks on Election Day, the Post-Dispatch reported. In September, the paper reported that election officials also told poll workers in a leaked email to “act surprised” if voters asked why they were not wearing masks. But the county walked back that advice after blowback.
All of the county’s poll workers, who were separated from voters by plexiglass barriers on Tuesday, were required to wear masks or face shields at all times, Bahr said in a news release. The polling site was also sanitized throughout the day, he added.
Other residents who cast their ballots at the site told the Post-Dispatch that they saw voters and election workers at the site wearing masks. The site also provided individually wrapped pens, Catherine Eberle, a home health nurse who brought her children with her, told the Post-Dispatch. The precautions made her feel “perfectly safe” in the moment.
But Eberle, 31, told the newspaper that the news of the worker testing positive has left her feeling angry.
“I just wish more people would have more concern for other people around them, not just for themselves,” Eberle told the Post-Dispatch.
Authorities are now asking everyone who was present at the site on Tuesday to closely monitor themselves for symptoms. County poll workers were not tested for the virus nor asked if they were positive before they worked Election Day, Bahr told the Post-Dispatch.
“If we had known anybody was positive, we would have asked them not to work,” Bahr told the paper.
Today's Tweet
One of the best parodies ever.
Count the Vote? Stop the Count? @desilydic's been watching Fox News nonstop and here's what's up pic.twitter.com/6fNXEYZ153
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 5, 2020
Nov 5, 2020
Today's Tweet
Bless you, late night TV.
Trump isn’t taking this well… pic.twitter.com/eAJAR4YLYX
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) November 5, 2020
COVID-19 Update
World
Coronavirus updates:
- New Cases: 574,694 (⬆︎ 1.20%)
- New Deaths: 9,057 (⬆︎ .74%)
USA
- New Cases: 108,389 (⬆︎ 1.12%) 🥳 NEW RECORD! 🎉
- New Deaths: 1,207 (⬆︎ .51%)
Texas will top over 10 million cases some time in the next coupla days.
- Less than 10% of the population.
- More than 10% of the disease.
Top 20 States
And in the middle of our little political melodrama, the disease is trying to remind us that a virus doesn't give a fuck about politics, no matter what President Stoopid and his Confederacy Of Dunces try to tell us.
You don't wish it away. You don't campaign it away. You sure as fuck don't tweet is away.
Coronavirus updates:
U.S. shatters records with more than 100,000 new cases in a single day
Months ago, the notion of the United States recording more than 100,000 coronavirus infections in a single day seemed inconceivable. But surging caseloads in nearly every state pushed the tally to a record 104,004 new infections Wednesday — and that wasn’t even the day’s biggest news story.
As Americans anxiously waited to find out who their next president will be, 18 states — including Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and West Virginia — reported record numbers of patients hospitalized with covid-19. More than 1,110 fatalities were tallied, pushing the total number of coronavirus deaths reported since February past 233,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post.
With nearly 9.5 million coronavirus cases reported, the United States is adding new infections at an unprecedented rate.
The seven-day average for new cases hit record highs in 20 states spanning every region of the country Wednesday, with the largest increases in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and Iowa, according to data tracked by The Post. Three states — Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming — also reported their highest daily fatality counts.
“Now is the time to develop a testing strategy to maximize our ability to identify the silent epidemic of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections,” Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. The tweet drew incredulous responses, with many questioning why such a strategy had not been designed earlier.
In New Jersey, more than 2,200 inmates were freed from prisons Wednesday — the first day of a new state law allowing some prisoners with up to eight months left on their sentences to be released.
Crowded prisons and jails continue to be among the main drivers of coronavirus outbreaks nationwide, and advocates have described New Jersey’s unique new policy as a “groundbreaking, game-changing moment” that could save lives. But some opponents have raised concerns about the impact of releasing thousands of people at once and suggested that newly released inmates risk spreading infection.
Across the Great Plains and the Midwest, surging caseloads have left many hospitals struggling to find space for coronavirus patients — or, crucially, to find qualified workers to take care of them. Dozens of Kansas hospitals told the Associated Press that they expect to face staffing shortages next week, while the Star Tribune reported that the number of nurses who have entered quarantine meant that only nine intensive-care beds were available in Minnesota’s Twin Cities as of Wednesday morning.
In Oklahoma, where a record 1,026 coronavirus patients were being treated in hospitals Wednesday, doctors called for a statewide mask mandate and warned of an impending crisis. Already, covid-19 patients are being moved around the state as hospitals juggle available beds and staffing levels, Oklahoma State Medical Association President George Monks told KFOR.
“We’ve got to do something different,” Monks said. “The pathway we are on is unsustainable.”
The Dakotas continue to add more new coronavirus cases per capita than any other part of the country — and many areas of the world. One hospital in Rapid City, S.D., has been freeing up space by moving non-coronavirus patients who will be discharged soon to an unfinished addition that is still under construction, KELO reported. In North Dakota, only 12 intensive-care beds were available statewide by Wednesday morning, according to the Grand Forks Herald.
“We North Dakotans are in crisis,” Jeffrey Sather, chief of staff at Trinity Hospital in Minot, N.D., said Tuesday, according to the paper. “The general population doesn’t realize the struggles that health systems are going through unless you or your family is one of those patients getting transferred across the state … or laying on an ER gurney rather than a hospital bed for 24 hours or more.”
With both Europe and the United States witnessing a dramatic increase in infections, China is making its already stringent border restrictions even tougher. Starting Friday, travelers from the United States, France and Germany will have to take a blood test that looks for coronavirus antibodies, in addition to a nucleic acid test for the virus, Reuters reported.
The presence of antibodies can indicate that a covid-19 patient has recovered from the virus and is now immune, though there is no scientific consensus on how long that immunity lasts. In a statement criticizing the move this week, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said that it was unclear “why a positive antibody test result would disqualify returnees, as many of those with antibodies had the virus months ago and present no significantly greater risk than those without antibodies.”
The chamber also noted that in many countries, antibody tests are not widely available and that front-line workers are being given priority. Similarly, China requires the results from the nucleic acid test to be turned around within 48 hours, which is not possible in many parts of the world.
Meanwhile, Greece followed in the footsteps of other European countries, including Ireland, France and Belgium, in announcing a return to a national lockdown. “I choose to take measures sooner rather than later,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday in a televised address.
Starting Saturday, retail stores in Greece will close, and high school classes will move online. Primary schools will stay open, however. According to the English edition of the Kathimerini newspaper, Greek citizens will also need to send text messages to the government when they leave their homes for working, shopping, medical reasons or exercise.
In France, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced further coronavirus restrictions Thursday as case numbers in the French capital continued to rise and hospitals approached their breaking point. The city is already under a strict lockdown, although with more flexibility than earlier in the spring. Authorities are now seeking to impose further restrictions to limit the spread of the virus late at night. Starting at 10 p.m., Hidalgo said, certain businesses that sell alcohol for delivery or takeaway will be forced to close, to cut down on crowds that authorities have observed outside them.
In England, which went into its second national lockdown Thursday, there were new announcements of stimulus packages aimed to help cushion the economic impact of the new restrictions. Notably, the government announced it would continue paying up to 80 percent of salaries for workers furloughed because of the pandemic, until the end of March. The Bank of England also said it would extend a stimulus package by a further $193 billion.
The announcements come amid growing concerns in Europe that the new lockdowns and tougher curbs will hinder economic recovery.
The European Commission on Thursday cut its euro-zone growth forecast for 2021 from 6.1 percent to 4.2 percent, according to Reuters. The executive arm of the European Union said the economies of Ireland, France and Belgium would be among the hardest-hit.
Others are concerned about the impact of fresh restrictions on mental health.
A new study published Thursday by researchers in New Zealand found that the country’s lockdown in April took a “significant psychological toll,” especially on younger adults.
In a statement, Susanna Every-Palmer, head of the department of psychological medicine at the University of Otago in Wellington, said: “It is clear that the consequences of the pandemic will be pervasive and prolonged. Our findings emphasise the need to put resources into supporting mental well-being both during and after lockdowns.”
Months ago, the notion of the United States recording more than 100,000 coronavirus infections in a single day seemed inconceivable. But surging caseloads in nearly every state pushed the tally to a record 104,004 new infections Wednesday — and that wasn’t even the day’s biggest news story.
As Americans anxiously waited to find out who their next president will be, 18 states — including Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin and West Virginia — reported record numbers of patients hospitalized with covid-19. More than 1,110 fatalities were tallied, pushing the total number of coronavirus deaths reported since February past 233,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post.
With nearly 9.5 million coronavirus cases reported, the United States is adding new infections at an unprecedented rate.
The seven-day average for new cases hit record highs in 20 states spanning every region of the country Wednesday, with the largest increases in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and Iowa, according to data tracked by The Post. Three states — Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming — also reported their highest daily fatality counts.
“Now is the time to develop a testing strategy to maximize our ability to identify the silent epidemic of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections,” Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote Wednesday on Twitter. The tweet drew incredulous responses, with many questioning why such a strategy had not been designed earlier.
In New Jersey, more than 2,200 inmates were freed from prisons Wednesday — the first day of a new state law allowing some prisoners with up to eight months left on their sentences to be released.
Crowded prisons and jails continue to be among the main drivers of coronavirus outbreaks nationwide, and advocates have described New Jersey’s unique new policy as a “groundbreaking, game-changing moment” that could save lives. But some opponents have raised concerns about the impact of releasing thousands of people at once and suggested that newly released inmates risk spreading infection.
Across the Great Plains and the Midwest, surging caseloads have left many hospitals struggling to find space for coronavirus patients — or, crucially, to find qualified workers to take care of them. Dozens of Kansas hospitals told the Associated Press that they expect to face staffing shortages next week, while the Star Tribune reported that the number of nurses who have entered quarantine meant that only nine intensive-care beds were available in Minnesota’s Twin Cities as of Wednesday morning.
In Oklahoma, where a record 1,026 coronavirus patients were being treated in hospitals Wednesday, doctors called for a statewide mask mandate and warned of an impending crisis. Already, covid-19 patients are being moved around the state as hospitals juggle available beds and staffing levels, Oklahoma State Medical Association President George Monks told KFOR.
“We’ve got to do something different,” Monks said. “The pathway we are on is unsustainable.”
The Dakotas continue to add more new coronavirus cases per capita than any other part of the country — and many areas of the world. One hospital in Rapid City, S.D., has been freeing up space by moving non-coronavirus patients who will be discharged soon to an unfinished addition that is still under construction, KELO reported. In North Dakota, only 12 intensive-care beds were available statewide by Wednesday morning, according to the Grand Forks Herald.
“We North Dakotans are in crisis,” Jeffrey Sather, chief of staff at Trinity Hospital in Minot, N.D., said Tuesday, according to the paper. “The general population doesn’t realize the struggles that health systems are going through unless you or your family is one of those patients getting transferred across the state … or laying on an ER gurney rather than a hospital bed for 24 hours or more.”
With both Europe and the United States witnessing a dramatic increase in infections, China is making its already stringent border restrictions even tougher. Starting Friday, travelers from the United States, France and Germany will have to take a blood test that looks for coronavirus antibodies, in addition to a nucleic acid test for the virus, Reuters reported.
The presence of antibodies can indicate that a covid-19 patient has recovered from the virus and is now immune, though there is no scientific consensus on how long that immunity lasts. In a statement criticizing the move this week, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said that it was unclear “why a positive antibody test result would disqualify returnees, as many of those with antibodies had the virus months ago and present no significantly greater risk than those without antibodies.”
The chamber also noted that in many countries, antibody tests are not widely available and that front-line workers are being given priority. Similarly, China requires the results from the nucleic acid test to be turned around within 48 hours, which is not possible in many parts of the world.
Meanwhile, Greece followed in the footsteps of other European countries, including Ireland, France and Belgium, in announcing a return to a national lockdown. “I choose to take measures sooner rather than later,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday in a televised address.
Starting Saturday, retail stores in Greece will close, and high school classes will move online. Primary schools will stay open, however. According to the English edition of the Kathimerini newspaper, Greek citizens will also need to send text messages to the government when they leave their homes for working, shopping, medical reasons or exercise.
In France, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced further coronavirus restrictions Thursday as case numbers in the French capital continued to rise and hospitals approached their breaking point. The city is already under a strict lockdown, although with more flexibility than earlier in the spring. Authorities are now seeking to impose further restrictions to limit the spread of the virus late at night. Starting at 10 p.m., Hidalgo said, certain businesses that sell alcohol for delivery or takeaway will be forced to close, to cut down on crowds that authorities have observed outside them.
In England, which went into its second national lockdown Thursday, there were new announcements of stimulus packages aimed to help cushion the economic impact of the new restrictions. Notably, the government announced it would continue paying up to 80 percent of salaries for workers furloughed because of the pandemic, until the end of March. The Bank of England also said it would extend a stimulus package by a further $193 billion.
The announcements come amid growing concerns in Europe that the new lockdowns and tougher curbs will hinder economic recovery.
The European Commission on Thursday cut its euro-zone growth forecast for 2021 from 6.1 percent to 4.2 percent, according to Reuters. The executive arm of the European Union said the economies of Ireland, France and Belgium would be among the hardest-hit.
Others are concerned about the impact of fresh restrictions on mental health.
A new study published Thursday by researchers in New Zealand found that the country’s lockdown in April took a “significant psychological toll,” especially on younger adults.
In a statement, Susanna Every-Palmer, head of the department of psychological medicine at the University of Otago in Wellington, said: “It is clear that the consequences of the pandemic will be pervasive and prolonged. Our findings emphasise the need to put resources into supporting mental well-being both during and after lockdowns.”
- At least 10 coronavirus cases have been linked to an early-voting site in Southampton, N.Y. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said at a Wednesday news briefing that six of the people who tested positive for the virus were poll workers.
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that a new economic stimulus bill should be finalized before the end of the year and will be the focus when the Senate resumes work next week.
- A small airport in Iowa wants to use relief funds to screen passengers for the coronavirus, but the plan has been held up for months by the Federal Aviation Administration.
- Denmark wants to cull all 15 million minks in Danish farms to minimize the risk of retransmitting the coronavirus to humans, according to the Associated Press.
- Australia has almost entirely eliminated the coronavirus, thanks to trust in science and the country’s willingness to comply with lockdown orders.
- Greece ordered a three-week national lockdown amid a surge of infections.
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