US Governors On Edge As Biden Team Downplays ‘National Shutdown’ Talk: Live Updates

Last night, the US notched a new milestone: 150k new cases for the first time, a new record. As cases climb in Europe, even Japan is starting to feel uneasy, as cases increase by 1,685 over the last 24 hours, a second straight daily high.

In India, which has seen case numbers fall in recent weeks, the state of Delhi, home of the Indian capital New Delhi, has reported a record daily high of 104 new deaths and 7,053 new infections. Countrywide, deaths increased by 547 to 128,668 in the past 24 hours. Total infections,  meanwhile, rose by 44,789. Tokyo reported 374 new infections, down slightly from 393 a day earlier, but the third consecutive day of more than 300 confirmed cases, adding to fears of a “third wave”.

As we await more data out of the US, Europe has already seen some tough numbers this morning, with Switzerland reporting a new record-high 6,700 cases. In China, 33 new cases were reported, up from 28 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 32 were imported, according to authorities. The local case, reported in Tianjin, hit a cold storage worker, who had reportedly handled frozen pork, purportedly from Germany, helping China to revive the narrative about the virus now being shipped into the country via mean producers.

Yesterday’s record tally was 153,496, bringing the total to 10,555,435 in the US. In Europe, meanwhile, another 219,509 new cases were reported according to figures from JH and Bloomberg.

Here’s a more comprehensive view of US cases vs. tests.

Source: mSightly

As Americans suffer from so-called adherence fatigue involving COVID-19 restrictions, Elon Musk on Thursday night tweeted that he had taken several rapid COVID-19 tests, and “two came back positive, two came back negative.

He added that he would soon deliver an update after getting to the bottom of the situation. “If it’s happening to me, it’s happening to others,” he said.

Finally, in the US, as the backlash to another mandatory lockdown intensifies, a member of Biden’s COVID-19 transition team happened to let slip during a talk with reporters that she didn’t actually think a national lockdown described by another Biden transition-team official would actually happen.

“With all due respect to Dr. Osterholm, that doesn’t necessarily represent the entire advisory board or what the Biden-Harris transition team is planning to do,” Gounder said on CNN. She said that “perhaps there are some places where you need to be more draconian, but I really don’t think that’s a national policy.”

And there you have it, folks: Team Biden’s first lockdown walk back.

Here’s some more COVID-19 news from overnight and Friday:

The American Clinical Laboratory Association, which represents large laboratories such as Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings and Quest Diagnostics Inc., warned that surging demand for Covid-19 tests could push some labs to or beyond capacity, delaying test results (Source: Bloomberg).

Australia will not allow foreign students to return as Canberra prioritizes the return of citizens stuck overseas, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says. Although the government had hoped to slowly allow overseas students to return in 2021 and began trials earlier this year, Morrison says, “There is a queue, and Australians are in the front of the queue.” Australia has since March closed its borders to all noncitizens and permanent residents.

Global cases have reached 52,629,906, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 1,291,837.

Indonesia hits a new daily record with 5,444 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, up from 4,173 the day before, and 104 deaths. This brings the country’s total to 457,735 cases, including 15,037 fatalities (Source: Nikkei).

German government spokesperson says Germany cannot talk about a turnaround in COVID infections just yet, no easing of restrictions is possible (Newswires).

South Korea begins fining people who fail to wear masks in public as it reports 191 new cases and as new daily infections creep higher. The tally is up from 143 a day ago, marking the biggest daily rise in two months and bringing the country total to 28,133, with 488 deaths. People caught without masks in nightclubs, malls, theme parks, hair salons and other public places face fines of up to 100,000 won ($89.75) (Source: Bloomberg)

Wisconsin’s daily cases exceeded 7,000 for a third consecutive day, adding urgency to Governor Tony Evers’s call for residents to curb on social activity and stay home (Source: Bloomberg).

Ohio is at a record for new infections, total hospitalizations and intensive-care patients, Governor Mike DeWine said as he warned, “we don’t want another shutdown” but we can only avoid one “if we are very careful” (Source: Bloomberg).