Things just keep climbing in America and Europe….
What does it look like when a country sets a record for coronavirus cases — and then breaks it again the next day?
The United States recorded at least 121,000 new infections on Thursday, a day after hitting 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, and for many Americans, fatalism was the order of the day.
“We knew it was just a matter of time,” said Matt Christensen.
Mr. Christensen was sitting in a minivan in Racine, Wis., his wife next to him and their three children in the back seat, waiting to be tested for the virus. Nearby, feverish and desperate, other people confined to their cars also waited.
On Thursday, as they waited, the coronavirus was spreading relentlessly across America, and America was speeding toward yet another record.
In a single day across America, from dawn to nightfall, it churned through homes, workplaces, hospitals, schools and laboratories.
In Cleveland, lab workers began another grinding day of processing coronavirus tests. In Minot, N.D., a hospital scrambled to find space for the crush of patients who came through the doors. And in Unionville, Conn., grieving relatives planned the funeral of a family’s 98-year-old matriarch, who died from the virus.
In the morning, governors began what is now a familiar routine: pleading in front of news cameras for Americans to do their part to stop the spread of the virus….
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The coronavirus continued its deadly march in Eastern Europe on Friday. Poland, where the daily average of new cases is above 21,000, saw its highest daily death count of the pandemic — 445 — and admitted the first patient to its new field hospital at a stadium in Warsaw. Romania, which passed 10,000 daily cases for the first time, announced that it would close schools and implement an overnight curfew. And Hungary has declared a “state of danger” this week, giving its prime minister the power to rule by decree to combat the virus, though restaurants and stores are still open….
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In England on Thursday, the first hours of Lockdown 2.0, as local newspapers called it, looked very little like a lockdown at all.
The situation exposed the enormous difficulties of European governments, struck by a second wave of the coronavirus, as they try to put the genie back in the bottle after months of encouraging people to flock back to offices and pubs.
Donald Trump STILL don’t care about the pandemic…
Hours after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. declared the coronavirus a top priority, the magnitude of his task became starkly clear on Sunday as the nation surpassed 10 million cases and sank deeper into the grip of what could become the worst chapter of the pandemic yet.
The rate of new cases is soaring, and for the first time is averaging more than 100,000 a day in the United States, which has reported more Covid-19 cases than any other country. An astonishing number — one in 441 Americans — have tested positive for the virus just in the last week.
With 29 states setting weekly case records, the virus is surging at a worrisome level in more than half the country. Nationwide, hospitalizations have nearly doubled since mid-September, and deaths are slowly increasing again, with few new interventions in place to stop the spiraling outbreak….
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A push for national mask is coming from Biden….
Utah Governor Issues Statewide Mask Mandate
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) “declared a new state of emergency late Sunday after the state’s most devastating week of the pandemic, as COVID-19 infections skyrocketed and deaths hit new highs. His big concern is the surge in hospitalizations that may soon overwhelm doctors and nurses,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Said Herbert: “These changes are not shutting down our economy, but are absolutely necessary to save lives and hospital capacity.”