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      in US Politics

      What led to Trump and what will follow Biden | Letters

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      George Monbiot (The US was lucky to get Trump – Biden may pave the way for a more competent autocrat, 11 November) is probably right about Barack Obama paving the way for Donald Trump, because the former failed to tackle big business. I would go even further and say that Tony Blair, another “breath of fresh air” at the time with his Tory-lite policies, more or less paved the way for our Trump – in the form of Brexit.Both politicians had a clear electoral mandate to bring about fundamental changes to their societies: in Blair’s case, to change our parliamentary institutions, as, when it came to corralling business, the UK was very much, and still is, a bit-part player. In the end, his successor handed over a poisoned chalice to the Tory/Lib Dem coalition to attempt to clean up the mess and, after its failure, to face the consequences. Joe Biden, besides confronting neoliberalism, needs to do to his country’s political system what Blair failed to do to his. John MarriottNorth Hykeham, Lincolnshire• George Monbiot paints a bleak prospect for the US and, by implication, the rest of the free world. He writes at length about the failure of Barack Obama to change the basic course of social and economic conditions during his eight years in office. He also comments on how important it is that Democrats win both Senate seats in Georgia to avoid a Republican-led upper house. Surely it was exactly this that stopped Obama at every turn – the fact that during his presidency he was cursed with a hostile and belligerent Senate.The 2008 global financial crisis was one of his darkest moments, and I believe it was Gordon Brown who took charge of the initial recovery worldwide. Most politicians realised that it was senior bank staff who were responsible for the disaster. But as the old adage says, “If you owe the bank £100 then you have a problem, but if you owe the bank £10,000,000 then the bank has a problem.” They were just too big and important to be allowed to fail. What didn’t happen, but should have, was that no bankers were exposed and prosecuted. Both Obama and Brown must bear some of the criticism. Richard YoellBromham, Bedfordshire• I am appalled by the advocation of “tub-thumping left populism” as a way forward for the US. We have seen enough of tub-thumping populism (whether of the left or right) in the world during the last 100 years to know where it leads – to mass civil unrest, police brutality, military intervention, civil war, governments shutting down parliaments and locking up (or kidnapping and murdering) political opponents. In short, to unbridled anarchy, tyranny and mayhem. So thanks, but no thanks! For all its faults and weaknesses, I’ll stick with democracy based on free and fair elections, even if it doesn’t always lead us to the ideal society that we may yearn to see realised.Philip StenningEccleshall, Staffordshire• George Monbiot overlooks the way in which the neoliberal doctrine of “making wealth before welfare” has been massively overturned by the response to the Covid-19 crisis, where the primacy of health over economics has been forced on even the most ardent neoliberal regimes, not least in the UK. This will certainly leave an indelible mark on the post-pandemic era. Unlike the disastrous neoliberal response to the 2008 crash, this time we are seeing the start of a possible end of its dominance as the prevailing ideology of our times, for the first time since the Thatcher-Reagan years.Adam HartGorran Haven, Cornwall More

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      Michigan and Washington impose new restrictions as US Covid cases pass 11m

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      Michigan and Washington state have joined a growing number of US cities and states in imposing new restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus, amid a nationwide surge which saw the national caseload grow by 1m in less than a week, passing 11m.
      Johns Hopkins University in Maryland reported 133,045 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, down from a record high of more than 184,000 on Friday but a 13th day over 100,000 in a row.
      The growth in cases is especially concerning ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans typically gather indoors to celebrate with friends and family.
      “The situation has never been more dire,” said Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. “We are at the precipice and we need to take some action.”
      Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered high schools and colleges to stop in-person classes, closed restaurants to indoor dining and suspended organised sports. Her order also restricted indoor and outdoor residential gatherings, closed some entertainment facilities, and banned gyms from hosting group exercise classes.
      The new restrictions are set to last three weeks, as part of a more surgical approach to dealing with the pandemic than general lockdown orders last spring. Whitmer’s previous stay-at-home orders made her the target of criticism from a Republican-led legislature, rightwing protests and later a kidnapping plot.
      Whitmer’s new, more limited orders drew condemnation from Trump adviser Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist without specific infectious disease credentials. Atlas tweeted that Michigan residents should “rise up” against Whitmer’s orders.
      Fourteen men have been charged in connection with the plot to kidnap Whitmer.
      On Monday, she told reporters Atlas’s comment was “just incredibly reckless considering everything that has happened, everything that is going on. We really all need to be focused on the public health crisis that is ravaging our country and that poses a very real threat to every one of us.”
      Atlas tweeted that he would “NEVER” endorse or incite violence.
      More than 246,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins, which recorded 616 deaths on Sunday. More Americans have died per capita than in other developed nations, studies have shown, even compared to “high mortality” countries.
      Deaths statistics are predicted to worsen in the next few weeks. Current projections from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show as many as 282,000 deaths from Covid-19 by 5 December.
      Spread of Covid-19 appears to be accelerating. It took 300 days for 11m Americans to test positive, after the first case was found in Washington state on 20 January. But it took just six days to move from 10m to 11m.
      Economists and epidemiologists have broadly maintained the same position throughout the pandemic: that the economy and public health are inextricably linked.
      Whether new surgical-style restrictions will effectively contain the virus remains to be seen. Some prominent experts such as Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s school of public health, said similar restrictions “appear to be working in France”.
      Others are more cautious. Andew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins, told NPR the level of spread is “a very daunting problem to control the numbers of cases that we’re seeing right now with these kinds of minor efforts”.
      US covid graphic
      Michigan’s orders came the same day Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, announced his state would enforce new restrictions on businesses and social gatherings for the next month.
      Starting on Tuesday, gyms and some entertainment centers will be required to close indoor services. Retail stores, including grocery stores, will be ordered to limit indoor capacity and multiple-household, indoor social gatherings will be prohibited unless attendees have quarantined for 14 days or tested negative and quarantined for a week. By Wednesday, restaurants and bars will again be limited to outdoor dining and to-go service.
      Even the previously resistant North Dakota governor, Republican Doug Burgum, ordered a statewide mask mandate and imposed several business restrictions on Friday. The Republican heeded the advice of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to require face coverings. Bars, restaurants and other venues were ordered to reduce capacity.
      North Dakota has nearly the worst per capita spread of Covid-19 in the nation, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
      The US appears to be entering the worst phase of the pandemic in terms of new cases. Texas and California last week each marked more than 1m confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

      In Texas, sporting events were canceled and at least one city added mobile morgues in anticipation of Covid deaths overwhelming hospital storage. Meanwhile, in California, the nation’s most populous state and the first to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, officials urged residents to keep holiday gatherings to small, outdoor visits less than two hours long.
      Health experts and officials across the nation are now cautioning people to forego or revise gatherings and holiday travel plans as Thanksgiving and other celebrations approach.
      There are notes of optimism on the horizon – makers of two leading vaccine candidates announced their drugs are far more effective than initially predicted. Wide distribution of a vaccine is months away, and will face complex logistical challenges. More

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      in Elections

      Fauci says Trump hasn’t attended a Covid meeting in ‘several months’ – video

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      Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious diseases official and a member of the White House taskforce, has joined the call to allow transition talks to begin amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if a normal transition would be to the benefit of public health, he replied: ‘Of course, that’s obvious. Of course it would be better if we could starting working with them.’ The president himself has been virtually silent on the public health disaster swirling around him. According to Fauci, Trump has not attended a meeting of the coronavirus taskforce for ‘several months’
      Trump faces growing pressure to start transition as Covid surges across US
      Trump insists ‘I concede nothing’ after tweeting that Biden ‘won’ – as it happened More

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      in US Politics

      US records 166,000 new Covid cases as states implement new restrictions

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      The US recorded 166,555 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, down from more than 184,000 on Friday but still its second-highest daily total and a 12th day in a row above 100,000.According to Johns Hopkins University, the overall US caseload is now nearly 10.9m and more than 245,000 have died. On Saturday, 1,266 people died. Hospitalisations are rising.Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, said it was “possible” the country would see 200,000 deaths in the next four months, which would put the toll of the pandemic above 400,000 in slightly more than a year.In Washington DC on Saturday, thousands attended the “Million Maga March”, a gathering of supporters of Donald Trump, who lost the presidential election to Joe Biden but has refused to concede. The president has heralded news of an imminent Pfizer vaccine but he and members of his family, top aides and senior Republicans have all tested positive for Covid-19.At campaign and White House events, Trump has refused to enforce mitigation measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing. On Saturday, local media reported that around the White House, where Trump waved to supporters from his motorcade, “it seemed a majority of the protesters gathered were not wearing masks”. Washington DC has a mask mandate.A pandemic is raging. Left unchecked, it will assuredly result in grossly overburdened hospitals and morguesTrump has said his administration will not implement any further social lockdowns. He has also refused to participate in the Biden transition, meaning information on Covid-19 is not being shared with the president-elect. Biden, who has appointed his own Covid-19 advisory group, supports a national mask mandate.Across the country, particularly in the hard-hit midwest, states are implementing tighter controls. On Saturday, California, Minnesota and Maryland were among states reporting rapidly rising case numbers and healthcare systems under serious strain. Oregon and New Mexico implemented new social restrictions, while North Dakota introduced a mask mandate and Arkansas established a Covid taskforce. From Monday, the Navajo Nation will enter a three-week stay-at-home advisory period.In Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee ordered sweeping restrictions and shutdowns starting at 11.59pm on Monday. Restaurants and bars were ordered to stop indoor service and keep outdoor service to groups of five or less. Gyms, movie theaters, museums and bowling alleys were ordered closed, the Seattle Times reported.Indoor gatherings involving multiple households are barred, unless those present have quarantined for two weeks. Alternatively, participants can quarantine for one week and test negative within two days of the get-together. Inslee’s mandates will be enacted for a minimum of four weeks.“Today, Sunday 15 November 2020, is the most dangerous public health day in the last 100 years of our state’s history,” Inslee said. “A pandemic is raging. Left unchecked, it will assuredly result in grossly overburdened hospitals and morgues and keep people from obtaining routine but necessary medical treatment for non-Covid conditions.”On CNN’s State of the Union, Fauci was asked what the Trump administration should do other than advising the wearing of masks, hand-washing and social distancing.“Well, what we’ve got to do is make what you just said uniform, not spotty,” he said. “Everybody’s got to do it. There’s no excuse not to do that right now, because we know that can turn things around. I mean, that’s the tool we have. We have good news with regard to the vaccines, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. Help is coming.“It’s going to be a gradual accrual of more normality as the weeks and the months go by, as we get well into 2021,” he added.Asked about his recent statement that a national lockdown is not necessary, he said: “We’re not going to get a national lockdown. I think that’s very clear, but I think what we’re going to start seeing in the local levels, be they governors or mayors or people at the local level … very surgical type of restrictions, which are the functional equivalent of a local lockdown.“We’re not going to have a national lockdown. But if things really get bad and you put your foot on the pedal and yet still you have the surge, you may need to take the extra step that you’re talking about.”Asked about Trump’s refusal to participate in the transition, Fauci said it was “almost like passing a baton in a race, you don’t want to stop and then give it to somebody, you want to just essentially keep going and that’s what transition is … Of course it would be better if we could start working with them.”Leaders of the Trump taskforce have promised swift distribution of the Pfizer vaccine to the vulnerable and frontline health workers, once emergency use authorisation is obtained from the US Food and Drug Administration, expected by the end of November.But Trump’s resistance to cooperation is not limited to Biden. On Friday, he said the federal government would not deliver the vaccine to New York, because its governor, Andrew Cuomo, “doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from”.Trump and Cuomo have fought repeatedly. Cuomo has said federal distribution plans rely too heavily on hospitals, clinics and drug stores, a problem for communities which do not have easy access to the healthcare system. On Sunday, he said he would sue if the administration made it difficult for minorities to get vaccinations.“If the Trump administration does not change this plan and does not provide an equitable vaccine process, we will enforce our legal rights,” Cuomo was reported as saying. “We will bring legal action to protect New Yorkers.”From Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine told CNN coronavirus “fatigue” was a serious problem. Speaking to CNN on Saturday, Dr James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, said he was “terrified” about the imminent holiday season.“We’re going to see an unprecedented surge of cases following Thanksgiving this year, and if people don’t learn from Thanksgiving, we’re going to see it after Christmas as well,” Phillips said. More

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      in US Politics

      The Guardian view on Biden and the world: undoing Trump’s damage | Editorial

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      Donald Trump is a “symptom of malaise, and decline, and decay” in the US, his former top Russia expert Fiona Hill has observed. If some countries have thus seized upon his presidency as an opportunity, many have been horrified.
      Few US elections were watched quite as anxiously as this one around the world. Widespread relief at Joe Biden’s victory is evident. Much foreign policy, unlike domestic, can be enacted by executive order, without the backing of the Senate. At the most basic level, he will be a president who is patient enough to read a report and knowledgeable enough to understand it; who grasps that America cannot prosper alone; who does not lavish praise on dictators while humiliating democratic allies; who listens to his own intelligence services over Vladimir Putin; and who will entrust Middle East policy to seasoned officials rather than his son-in-law.
      Mr Biden has already vowed to undo many of Mr Trump’s decisions, rejoining the Paris climate change agreement and rescinding the order to withdraw from the World Health Organization. He plans to extend the soon-to-expire New Start treaty with Russia – the last arms control agreement standing. Tackling the pandemic is likely to be a priority for his international diplomacy: signing up to Covax – the global initiative to ensure that poorer nations also get a share of coronavirus vaccines – would send a powerful signal. More than 180 countries have already done so, including China.
      The wait to enter the White House has dangers of its own. Other nations may take advantage of US distraction. The president-elect is not receiving intelligence briefings, leaving him in the dark as he prepares for office. There are anxieties that Mr Trump’s replacement of the defence secretary, Mark Esper, and other senior officials with loyalists may not just be payback for public disagreement, but about paving the way for action at home or abroad. Key administration officials have visited Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia since the election to discuss Iran, raising concerns that Mr Trump might yet pursue a scorched-earth policy – perhaps upping the pressure on Tehran so that it hits back, making it far harder to salvage the nuclear deal.
      The Trump administration has been much tougher on Beijing than anticipated, and has taken measures such as imposing sanctions on officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Yet on this relationship, as elsewhere, the president has been both erratic and crudely transactional, making it clear that human rights concerns are barterable for a better deal on trade. The turn against China has also come across the political spectrum, in response to its actions in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and above all internationally. Countering such behaviour will require intelligence, experience (the state department has been hollowed out and politicised) and consistency. Shoring up international alliances is essential. Finding ways to support Taiwan that don’t backfire in the response they trigger from Beijing will be crucial – and extremely hard.
      Critics of Mr Trump have sometimes taken an overly rosy view of US foreign policy before him. Mr Biden is likely, in essence, to pursue the status quo ante. But if Mr Trump recognised that America’s place in the world was changing, he has also sped its decline. That such a man could become president, and that he could govern as he has, has fundamentally diminished US standing. The world has watched in disbelief as the president has allowed coronavirus to ravage his nation – and now as he refuses to concede. Last week, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, attacked Beijing for crushing democracy in Hong Kong – but while opining, with a smirk, that at home there would be “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.
      If large parts of the world thought the US was malign or at least deeply flawed before, they also thought it mostly functioning and competent, and often enviable. Demolition is an easier task than construction. Mr Biden will undo some of the worst aspects of the last four years, but he cannot erase them from the record. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump faces growing pressure to start transition as Covid surges across US

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      [embedded content]
      The White House is coming under growing pressure from President-elect Joe Biden, as well as senior Republicans and health experts, to allow transition talks to begin amid a terrifying surge in coronavirus cases that is pushing hospital systems across the US to the brink of collapse.
      As Donald Trump insisted he would not concede defeat – despite tweeting that Biden “won” last week’s election – Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, said on Sunday it was essential that a “seamless transition” begins quickly, given the severity of the pandemic.
      He told NBC’s Meet the Press Biden’s Covid advisory panel remains hamstrung from talking to US government health officials including the White House taskforce led by Vice-President Mike Pence.
      Under transition rules routinely followed for the past 60 years, a letter of “ascertainment” declaring Biden the winner of the 3 November election should by now have been issued by the General Services Administration (GSA), authorising communication between the outgoing and incoming administrations.
      But with Trump still refusing to concede, as he lies repeatedly on Twitter about a “stolen election”, no such letter has been produced.
      “Unfortunately until we get that GSA ascertainment that authorises us to contact government officials we can’t have any contacts,” Klain said.
      Klain, whose approach to coronavirus carries weight given his successful marshalling of the federal response as “Ebola tsar” in 2014, said the block on communications was especially damaging around preparations for a vaccine. Hopes soared this week when Pfizer/BioNTech announced its candidate was 90% effective in protecting people from the infection.
      The White House has said some 20m doses of the vaccine could be ready for distribution to vulnerable populations such as older people in nursing homes by the end of December.
      Biden’s transition team will meet Pfizer and other producers this week, Klain said. But he added: “The bigger issue is the mechanism of manufacture and distribution – getting this vaccine out. Vaccines don’t save lives, vaccinations save lives – it’s a giant logistical problem.
      “Trump’s Twitter feed doesn’t make Joe Biden president or not president, the American people did that. What we want to see is the GSA issue that ascertainment so we can meet vaccine officials.”
      The note of urgency and frustration evident from Biden’s chief of staff reflected the intensity of a coronavirus crisis that is surging in all parts of the US. Friday saw records shattered with 184,000 new cases. Deaths are increasing in 31 states, the toll fast approaching a quarter of a million.
      The lack of transition talks is not only hampering preparations for a vaccine. It is also preventing Biden’s administration-in-waiting from gaining up-to-the-minute information on stockpiles of essential protective equipment for health workers, including gloves and masks.
      A Guardian/Kaiser Health News investigation, Lost on the Frontline, has identified at least 1,375 health workers who have died in the US from Covid-19.
      The chorus of demands on the Trump administration to begin cooperating with Biden, despite the president’s increasingly perverse refusal to admit defeat, has been joined by a number of senior Republicans. Among them on Sunday was John Bolton, Trump’s former US national security adviser.
      Bolton told ABC’s This Week that by making it as difficult as possible for the incoming administration, Trump was acting “ultimately to the country’s disadvantage, certainly in the national security space and I think given the coronavirus pandemic and the effective distribution of the vaccine. We need a transition and we should proceed with it as quickly as we can.”
      Mike DeWine, the Republican governor of Ohio, which is struggling with a devastating rise in infections, told CNN’s State of the Union: “We know now that Joe Biden is president-elect and that transition for the country’s sake is important. We need to begin that process.”
      Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious diseases official and a member of the White House taskforce, joined the calls for the transition blockage to be lifted.
      Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if a normal transition would be to the benefit of public health, were he and other experts allowed to work with the Biden team, he replied: “Of course, that’s obvious. Of course it would be better if we could starting working with them.”
      As the calls mount for Trump to get out of the way, the president himself has been virtually silent on the public health disaster swirling around him. According to Fauci, Trump has not attended a meeting of the coronavirus taskforce for “several months”.
      The last time Trump physically sat in on the discussions was at least five months ago, the Washington Post reported.
      Apart from spreading falsehoods about the election, Trump spent the weekend playing golf at his course in Sterling, Virginia.
      Though the death rate from Covid-19 remains lower than its April peak, there are fears that fatalities will also rise when hospitals become overrun. That point is getting close in several states throughout the midwest, including Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
      Michael Osterholm, a member of Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, gave NBC a chilling vision of what could lie ahead.
      “My worst fear,” he said, “is what we saw in other countries, where people were literally dying in the waiting room of emergency rooms after spending 10 hours waiting to be seen.
      “That will start to happen, the media will start reporting it, and we will see the breadth and depth of this tragedy.” More

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      in US Politics

      US sees record 184,000 new daily Covid cases as Trump politicises vaccine effort

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      The US set yet another daily record for new coronavirus cases on Friday, topping 184,000, while Donald Trump promised imminent distribution of a vaccine – except to New York, which he threatened to leave out for political reasons – and the president-elect, Joe Biden, pleaded with Americans to follow basic mitigation measures.
      According to Johns Hopkins University, 184,514 new cases were recorded on Friday, up from 153,496 on Thursday. More than 10.7 million cases have been recorded in total and more than 244,000 have died. Deaths are also increasing: 1,431 were reported on Friday, the highest toll in 10 days if more than a thousand less than the highest such toll, from April.
      At the White House, in his first remarks since losing the election to Biden, Trump said he expected a vaccine developed by Pfizer to receive emergency use authorisation “extremely soon”, and to be available to the general population by April.
      He also said the federal government would not deliver the vaccine to New York, because its governor, Andrew Cuomo, “doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from”. Trump and Cuomo have clashed frequently during the pandemic.
      Cuomo told MSNBC: “None of what he said is true, surprise surprise. We’re all excited about the possibilities about a vaccine.”
      Trump also took a shot at Pfizer, saying its statement that it was not part of Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccine effort, was “an unfortunate misrepresentation”. Pfizer did not receive support for research or manufacturing, but has agreed to sell its vaccine to the federal government. A spokeswoman said the company was proud to be part of Operation Warp Speed “as a supplier of a potential Covid-19 vaccine”.
      If Trump’s timeline for the vaccine holds, he will be out of power by the time it is distributed to the general population. Trump has not conceded defeat and is mounting legal challenges in battleground states. But he has little to no chance of success and Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president in Washington on 20 January.
      Preparing for government from Wilmington, Delaware, Biden has named his own Covid taskforce. On Friday one member, Dr Celine Grounder, alluded to delays in providing national security briefings to Biden caused by Trump’s refusal to concede when she told CNN the virus was now “essentially a national security threat [because] Americans are getting infected and sickened by coronavirus, dying from coronavirus, and how the economy is being impacted by the coronavirus”.
      Shortly before Trump spoke, Biden issued a statement with a conspicuously presidential tone.
      “The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar,” he said. “It is accelerating right now. I renew my call for every American, regardless of where they live or who they voted for, to step up and do their part on social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing.”
      With winter closing in, socialising moving indoors and case numbers reaching levels regularly warned of by Dr Anthony Fauci, a widely trusted expert with whom Trump has regularly clashed, states across the Republican midwest are struggling. Hospital resources are stretched and governors have appealed for help.
      “It’s on fire,” Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio, told the Wall Street Journal. “We’ve never seen anything like this. Our spring surge and summer surge were nowhere like this.”
      Another Republican, Doug Bergum of North Dakota, ordered a mask mandate and imposed business restrictions. In Nevada, Democratic governor Steve Sisolak tested positive.
      The governors of New Mexico and Oregon have ordered strict social limitations. Imposing a two-week stay-at-home order, Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, said: “We are in a life-or-death situation, and if we don’t act right now, we cannot preserve the lives, we can’t keep saving lives, and we will absolutely crush our current healthcare system and infrastructure.”
      Oregon governor Kate Brown, also a Democrat, said: “This situation is dangerous, and our hospitals have been sounding the alarm. I know this is hard, and we are weary. But we are trying to stop this ferocious virus from quickly spreading far and wide.”
      In Idaho, Governor Brad Little, a Republican, has enlisted the state national guard to assist in pandemic response and slowed reopening plans.
      On the east coast, Ned Lamont, the governor of Connecticut, entered quarantine after an aide tested positive. In New York, public schools could close on Monday while New York City’s courthouses, which may be the busiest in the US, are imposing restrictions on in-person proceedings, after positive tests were recorded among court employees.

      Cuomo said he would meet with leaders of six north-eastern states, to figure out supplemental steps.
      On the national stage, Trump said: “Ideally we won’t go to a lockdown. I will not go – this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the – whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be.
      “I guess time will tell. But I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”
      Biden has promised to follow advice from scientists about new social restrictions, although he walked back an initial statement that he would go back into widespread lockdown if so advised. He supports a national mask mandate.
      Several dozen US Secret Service agents have contracted the virus, likely as a result of staffing events at the White House and on the campaign trail at which mitigation measures were not enforced. Trump, members of his family, cabinet members and senior aides and top Republicans have tested positive. In October, the president spent three days in hospital.
      One scientific model predicts more than 400,000 deaths by March. Two weeks ago, in an interview with the Washington Post, Fauci warned of a winter of more than 100,000 new cases a day and said the country was in for “a whole lot of hurt”. The US has now recorded more than 100,000 cases a day for 10 days running. More