
Medical staff members treat a patient suffering from Covid-19 in the intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center on October 31, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo: Go Nakamura/Getty Images)
One Thing Very Certain After Election Day: 'Coronavirus Spreading Like Wildfire'
The U.S. is "entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic... leading to increasing mortality," Dr. Deborah Birx warned earlier this week.
Political uncertainty remains as vote-counting continues after an Election Day which saw millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S., but one thing that's for sure is that "coronavirus is spreading like wildfire" throughout the country.
According to Johns Hopkins data, the U.S. recorded 91,350 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday. This marked the second-highest single-day figure to date, CNBC reported, while CNN noted that the five days with the highest number of coronavirus cases have all occurred since October 29.
As the national caseload has ballooned in the past week, the seven-day average of daily new cases surpassed 86,000, CNN reported:

Meanwhile, Forbes reported that Harvard and Brown's Covid-19 risk assessment map--which assigns a rating to each county based on its weekly average of cases per 100,000 people--puts over half the U.S. "at a tipping point," meaning that the risk of transmission is high and the "level of spread is difficult to control without a circuit-breaking intervention such as a stay-at-home order."
Furthermore, 1,130 Americans died from Covid-19 on November 3, and according to reporting from the Star Tribune in Minnesota, only nine intensive care beds were available in the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning as the pandemic sends a growing number of people to area hospitals.
All of these data points confirm what epidemiologists have been sounding the alarm about for more than a week: Covid-19 is spreading rapidly nationwide. The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a third surge that is, as CNN put it, "well underway and will only get worse."
While evidence indicates that the public health catastrophe is worsening, Tuesday night exit polls found that nearly half of the country thinks that "U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going... very well or somewhat well."
Support broke down along partisan lines, with Democrats holding a more negative view of the nation's pandemic response and Republicans rating the government's actions more favorably.
HuffPost reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump "actually performed better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high Covid-19 death rates... despite [his] brazen negligence in handling the coronavirus."
While the president was able to maintain support among a large share of the electorate, a November 2 internal report from Dr. Deborah Birx obtained by the Washington Post revealed a top White House coronavirus adviser contradicting Trump's false claims that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic.
Birx warned that the country is "entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic... leading to increasing mortality," and pleaded for a more aggressive approach to containment.
According to information obtained by Politico, "Joe Biden is planning to create his own task force to help grapple with the country's surge in cases should he win [the] election."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Political uncertainty remains as vote-counting continues after an Election Day which saw millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S., but one thing that's for sure is that "coronavirus is spreading like wildfire" throughout the country.
According to Johns Hopkins data, the U.S. recorded 91,350 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday. This marked the second-highest single-day figure to date, CNBC reported, while CNN noted that the five days with the highest number of coronavirus cases have all occurred since October 29.
As the national caseload has ballooned in the past week, the seven-day average of daily new cases surpassed 86,000, CNN reported:

Meanwhile, Forbes reported that Harvard and Brown's Covid-19 risk assessment map--which assigns a rating to each county based on its weekly average of cases per 100,000 people--puts over half the U.S. "at a tipping point," meaning that the risk of transmission is high and the "level of spread is difficult to control without a circuit-breaking intervention such as a stay-at-home order."
Furthermore, 1,130 Americans died from Covid-19 on November 3, and according to reporting from the Star Tribune in Minnesota, only nine intensive care beds were available in the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning as the pandemic sends a growing number of people to area hospitals.
All of these data points confirm what epidemiologists have been sounding the alarm about for more than a week: Covid-19 is spreading rapidly nationwide. The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a third surge that is, as CNN put it, "well underway and will only get worse."
While evidence indicates that the public health catastrophe is worsening, Tuesday night exit polls found that nearly half of the country thinks that "U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going... very well or somewhat well."
Support broke down along partisan lines, with Democrats holding a more negative view of the nation's pandemic response and Republicans rating the government's actions more favorably.
HuffPost reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump "actually performed better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high Covid-19 death rates... despite [his] brazen negligence in handling the coronavirus."
While the president was able to maintain support among a large share of the electorate, a November 2 internal report from Dr. Deborah Birx obtained by the Washington Post revealed a top White House coronavirus adviser contradicting Trump's false claims that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic.
Birx warned that the country is "entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic... leading to increasing mortality," and pleaded for a more aggressive approach to containment.
According to information obtained by Politico, "Joe Biden is planning to create his own task force to help grapple with the country's surge in cases should he win [the] election."
Political uncertainty remains as vote-counting continues after an Election Day which saw millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S., but one thing that's for sure is that "coronavirus is spreading like wildfire" throughout the country.
According to Johns Hopkins data, the U.S. recorded 91,350 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday. This marked the second-highest single-day figure to date, CNBC reported, while CNN noted that the five days with the highest number of coronavirus cases have all occurred since October 29.
As the national caseload has ballooned in the past week, the seven-day average of daily new cases surpassed 86,000, CNN reported:

Meanwhile, Forbes reported that Harvard and Brown's Covid-19 risk assessment map--which assigns a rating to each county based on its weekly average of cases per 100,000 people--puts over half the U.S. "at a tipping point," meaning that the risk of transmission is high and the "level of spread is difficult to control without a circuit-breaking intervention such as a stay-at-home order."
Furthermore, 1,130 Americans died from Covid-19 on November 3, and according to reporting from the Star Tribune in Minnesota, only nine intensive care beds were available in the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning as the pandemic sends a growing number of people to area hospitals.
All of these data points confirm what epidemiologists have been sounding the alarm about for more than a week: Covid-19 is spreading rapidly nationwide. The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a third surge that is, as CNN put it, "well underway and will only get worse."
While evidence indicates that the public health catastrophe is worsening, Tuesday night exit polls found that nearly half of the country thinks that "U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going... very well or somewhat well."
Support broke down along partisan lines, with Democrats holding a more negative view of the nation's pandemic response and Republicans rating the government's actions more favorably.
HuffPost reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump "actually performed better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high Covid-19 death rates... despite [his] brazen negligence in handling the coronavirus."
While the president was able to maintain support among a large share of the electorate, a November 2 internal report from Dr. Deborah Birx obtained by the Washington Post revealed a top White House coronavirus adviser contradicting Trump's false claims that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic.
Birx warned that the country is "entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic... leading to increasing mortality," and pleaded for a more aggressive approach to containment.
According to information obtained by Politico, "Joe Biden is planning to create his own task force to help grapple with the country's surge in cases should he win [the] election."

