Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Minnesota in ‘desperate and dangerous place’ with COVID-19 – StarTribune.com

The Minnesota Department of Health reported a record 8,703 new cases Saturday, a one-day tally that surpassed the previous record by nearly 1,500.

Health officials stressed the skyrocketing count wasn’t due to a backlog or some other reporting anomaly, but rather, the rapid spread of a virus that will likely produce rising death counts and hospitalizations for weeks to come.

“These are the unvarnished numbers for today and reflect the very desperate and dangerous place we are at in Minnesota,” Kris Ehresmann, the state’s director for infectious diseases, said Saturday in a statement.

Source: Minnesota in ‘desperate and dangerous place’ with COVID-19 – StarTribune.com

As the second wave of COVID-19 tears through Connecticut, coronavirus deaths aren’t concentrated in nursing homes this time; they’re everywhere – Hartford Courant

“Four to five weeks ago we started seeing changes in the community. The younger population was getting infected, by that I mean 20-29-year-olds and 30-39-year-olds that had very high positivity rate compared to 60-69 range,” Kumar said. “The younger population, who get infected because of social gatherings or mask fatigue or disregard for wearing a mask or social distancing, were able to congregate and are mobile, and it has led to more community spread, and now we are seeing more hospitalizations.”

The current pattern marks a departure. In April and May, when the virus was at its peak, nearly 75 percent of the state’s deaths were concentrated in long-term care facilities. More than 2,500 nursing home residents have died during the pandemic.

Dr. David Banach, an epidemiologist at UConn Health, says while many of the deaths are still among the elderly, they aren’t all from congregated settings.

“There’s more community elderly people coming in now,” Banach said. “It’s the same demographic – it’s just they aren’t all from nursing homes.”

Source: As the second wave of COVID-19 tears through Connecticut, coronavirus deaths aren’t concentrated in nursing homes this time; they’re everywhere – Hartford Courant

L.A. County’s daily coronavirus case count hits summer highs – Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County public health officials reported 20 new deaths and 3,780 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, the highest number of positive cases in one day since the summertime. County officials attributed the growth in cases to increased testing across the county — more than 56,000 tests were processed Friday — yet the positivity rate remains high, at nearly 6%.

Source: L.A. County’s daily coronavirus case count hits summer highs – Los Angeles Times

Judges rule against 6 Trump campaign lawsuits to invalidate nearly 9,000 Pennsylvania ballots | KXAN Austin

Six lawsuits filed by Pres. Donald Trump’s campaign have failed to get nearly 9,000 absentee ballots in Pennsylvania invalidated, CNN reports. On Friday, two judges threw out the cases, which the Trump campaign complained should not be counted because their outer envelopes lacked names, dates, and/or addresses. Ultimately, the judges ruled the ballots were valid and they will be processed.

Source: Judges rule against 6 Trump campaign lawsuits to invalidate nearly 9,000 Pennsylvania ballots | KXAN Austin

COVID-19 in Illinois updates- Chicago Tribune

The total number of new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Illinois is 11,028, a little lower than Friday’s record-breaking 15,415, state public health officials reported on Saturday. But the number of new deaths on Saturday spiked to 166, at least six times higher than Friday’s figure, 27.

Source: COVID-19 in Illinois updates: Here’s what’s happening this weekend – Chicago Tribune

Beaver Program Expands, Increasing Habitat Resilience to Climate Change — LRInspire

Tulalip wildlife staff and volunteers from Beavers Northwest lined up five cages in a Skykomish mountain stream in September, counting down to a synchronous opening of the gates. From the cages, six beavers – a breeding pair, three kits and a subadult – took a moment to get their bearings, then scurried off in all directions, including […]

Beaver Program Expands, Increasing Habitat Resilience to Climate Change — LRInspire