1/ The United States coronavirus cases set new a daily record, topping 77,000 Thursday and exceeding the previous high set in July. The current surge is already more widespread than the waves this summer and spring. COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased in 38 states over the past week and continue to rise so quickly that some hospitals in the West and Midwest are already running out of hospital beds. A new study forecast that more than 511,000 Americans could die from COVID-19 by February – that’s more than all the lives lost by the U.S. in World War II. Biden warned that America was headed for a “dark winter” with no COVID-19 vaccine expected to be available for most of people until the middle of next year. Trump, meanwhile, declared that the U.S. is “rounding the corner” and that the pandemic “will soon be gone.” [Editor’s note: Please continue to watch your distance, wear your mask, and wash your damn hands.] (NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2020/10/23/day-1373/