- GSA declares Biden apparent winner, clearing way for the formal transition
- Trump continues to contest election as ‘corrupt’ and ‘fake’
- Biden picks first women and first Latino for key cabinet roles
- Former Fed chair Yellen set to become first female treasury secretary
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The New York Times has more grim reporting this morning about the current state of the coronavirus pandemic in the US. Mitch Smith reports:
When infections began rising sharply in the US in September, the growth was driven largely by outbreaks in the Upper Midwest. Now, though, with the whole country’s daily average of new cases is as high as it has ever been, the most rapid growth is happening elsewhere.
Nine states are reporting more than twice as many new cases a day as they did two weeks ago, and none of them are in the Midwest. The surges in those states — Arizona, California, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Vermont — reflect a still-escalating national crisis.
Thanksgiving is always the final Thursday in November, but this year the timing could not be worse. As the holiday approaches, thousands of college students are going back home for the winter as schools close their campuses, end their semester, or move classes online. What they won’t be ending is the spread of Covid-19.
Cases in the US have risen exponentially over the last few weeks, with daily new cases close to 200,000 and current hospitalizations reaching 80,000. Unlike the previous two waves of cases in the spring and summer, the rise in cases is not concentrated in a single region. Cases are rising in most parts of the country.
Related: Students going home for Thanksgiving could bring Covid with them
