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

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      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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      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

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      Donald Trump comes close to admitting defeat but stops short – video

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      Donald Trump appeared to come close to acknowledging Joe Biden’s election victory in a Rose Garden press conference.
      Discussing the possibility of a national lockdown, the president said: ‘Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell … this administration will not go to a lockdown.’
      Donald Trump has refused to concede to president-elect Biden, instead making false claims of mass voter fraud.
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      US election results 2020: Joe Biden wins presidency, defeating Donald Trump More

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      'Failure is not an option': Biden's Covid taskforce ready to step up

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      President-elect Joe Biden has set up a 13-member coronavirus advisory board will play a high-profile role in helping the Biden-Harris administration contain the coronavirus pandemic in the US as it enters its deadliest phase so far.
      “Failure is not an option here,” Dr Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a member of the advisory board, told the Guardian. “We have to do whatever we can to reduce the impact of the virus on our society.”
      The high-powered board, which includes a former US surgeon general, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, leading virologists and experts in bio-defense and the health of marginalized populations, is an about-face from the Trump administration.
      Trump routinely muzzled scientists, pushed misinformation, sought to change scientific guidance for political purposes and shunted much of the Covid-19 response to states.
      “The work has been going on for months,” said Dr Celine Gounder, a clinical assistant professor of infectious diseases at NYU Langone Health’s department of medicine, and a member of the advisory board. “The role of the advisory board is sort of bigger picture, to have a second set of eyes on these plans to provide feedback and to be thinking big ideas.”
      The coming weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic will be among the most challenging, as the US shatters records for new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, with deaths sure to follow, and economic fallout likely.
      The disease has killed 242,000 people and is claiming more than 1,000 lives a day. The rate of Americans hospitalized has more than doubled over two weeks, and the coming holidays threaten to make the pandemic exponentially worse.
      “It’s important to understand virtually the entire US is becoming a hotspot, which means nothing really is a hotspot any more – everything is,” said Osterholm.
      The Biden campaign laid out a multi-pronged plan for dealing with the virus, including:
      shared guidance on reopening from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
      an enormous expansion of testing and production of protective equipment;
      an expansion of health insurance benefits;
      a multi-pronged, logistically challenging, vaccination campaign to provide free shots;
      hiring 100,000 new public health workers;
      and lobbying for coronavirus economic relief.

      The scientists and researchers tapped by the Biden-Harris administration will work with that blueprint, as well as look broadly at how to address public trust, rampant viral spread, vaccine distribution and even novel solutions such as screening entire towns for Covid-19, according to Gounder.
      “Really scaling up testing is a big priority, because you can’t really understand how the virus is spreading if you don’t have that kind of data,” said Gounder. Importantly, there is disagreement on the board – not everyone agrees on how to approach the pandemic response, and this is by design.
      President-elect Joe Biden has made a stark departure from the strategy of his predecessor, and assembled a group of 13 of the nation’s foremost scientists to lead a federal response to the pandemic.
      The group’s very appointment is a stark departure from Trump’s administration, which has still refused to concede or aid in a transition. Biden has also signaled he would turn much of the federal government to face the Covid-19 challenge. He announced a 52-member Covid-19 transition team to coordinate across federal agencies.
      Trump’s intransigence has consequences – the most ambitious plans of this group will probably have to wait until 20 January when Biden takes office. Still, as a nationwide surge of infections grips the country, the group can address perhaps its most important challenge – getting buy-in from the American people.
      “[Biden’s] single biggest challenge is going to be re-establishing trust,” said Dr Leana Wen, an emergency doctor and public health professor at George Washington University, who is not involved in the advisory board. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner. “We won’t be able to stop the surges and infections if half of the country does not follow his guidance.”
      Overwhelmingly, those who rated the economy as their top issue voted for the now outgoing President Trump. But those people must be brought on board to participate in public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing to stem the tide of infection.
      “If I could change one thing right now, I wish everyone in this country could spend just one hour in an intensive care unit,” said Osterholm, as a way to convince the American public of the severity of the disease. “That’s been one of the challenges – is the fact that people still think this is not real.” More

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      The Guardian view on Dominic Cummings: voting to leave | Editorial

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      Boris Johnson should have asked his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, to resign months ago when he broke the first coronavirus lockdown and showed no regret afterwards. Perhaps Mr Johnson thought he could not do without the architect of his election victory and his ally in pursuing a hardline Brexit. But the damage was done. Public confidence in the government’s handling of coronavirus fell and has not stopping falling since.Mr Cummings walked out of Downing Street, in an act of theatrical defiance, on Friday. It is a mark of the tragicomic nature of Mr Johnson’s government that a week of infighting within No 10 dominates the news at a time of national emergency when hundreds are dying every day from a dangerous disease. Mr Cummings gets to walk away while Britain is stuck with the damage he has wrought.He won the Brexit referendum by spreading lies, unconcerned about damaging public trust. He has snubbed parliament, weaponised populist sentiment against state institutions and played fast and loose with the constitution. He may say that unconventional times needed unconventional ideas. But he seemed to enjoy his war too much. He picked, and lost, too many fights for his own good. A swirling cast of characters was drawn in. Even Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s fiancee, got involved.Mr Cummings was edged out of power before he could flounce out. This tawdry episode demonstrates two things. One is Mr Johnson’s palpable lack of leadership in a crisis. He encouraged his chief adviser to embrace his inner Leninism — where the end justifies the means. Second is the government’s well-deserved reputation for incompetence. The prime minister over-centralised Downing Street and let Mr Cummings ride roughshod over a weak cabinet that he had hand-picked but which lacked the confidence or foresight to predict problems.Mr Cummings’ plans have gone awry thanks to the unpredictability of politics. After the US election his ideas for a hard Brexit were going nowhere. A Biden White House would have little time for the UK if it turned its back on Europe. Mr Cummings’ departure is a clear indication that the prime minister is ready to make the compromises needed to strike a deal with the EU.Coronavirus required bigger government. Fiscal conservatives like the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and many other Tory MPs worried that once voters understood that big spending would not bankrupt the economy they might get a taste for decent public services. Mr Sunak wanted to balance the books, Mr Cummings wanted to blow them up. He agitated for the un-Tory idea that state power could turbocharge the economy, making powerful enemies in No 11.Resentments have built like sediment on the river bed of Conservatism and threatened to choke the flow of government. Backbench MPs see Mr Cummings’ contempt for them as symptomatic of a high-handed Downing Street and have rebelled in such numbers that it threatens the stability of a government that, paradoxically, won a landslide largely thanks to Mr Cummings.Mr Johnson might think that, without his adviser, his ungovernable party becomes governable. But he might find that elections become unwinnable. Some of this is more about style than substance. Mr Johnson still has to make good on his promise to “level up” Britain, especially since north-south divisions have been dramatically exposed by coronavirus. The prime minister needs to up his game. Once gained, a reputation for incompetence is hard to shift. Too often with Mr Johnson the buck stops somewhere else and blame is dumped on someone else. With Mr Cummings out, there is no hiding place for Mr Johnson. More

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      BioNTech chief rejects Trump claim it delayed Covid vaccine news

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      The scientist behind the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has defended his company from Donald Trump’s accusation that it deliberately delayed news of its rapid progress until after the election, saying “we don’t play politics”.
      BioNTech, a German company, and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced on Monday that their jointly developed vaccine candidate had exceeded expectations in the crucial phase 3 vaccine trials, proving 90% effective in protecting people from coronavirus infections.
      Quick guide Who in the UK will get the new Covid-19 vaccine first?
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      The UK government’s joint committee on vaccination and immunisation has published a list of groups of people who will be prioritised to receive a vaccine for Covid-19. The list is:
      1. All those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers.
      2. All those 75 years of age and over.
      3. All those 70 years of age and over.
      4. All those 65 years of age and over.
      5. Adults under 65 years of age at high at risk of serious disease and mortality from Covid-19.
      6. Adults under 65 years of age at moderate risk of at risk of serious disease and mortality from Covid-19.
      7. All those 60 years of age and over.
      8. All those 55 years of age and over.
      9. All those 50 years of age and over.
      10. Rest of the population

      The US president criticised the timing of their press release. Trump accused the companies of holding back the good news until after the American elections “because they didn’t have the courage to do it before”.
      But BioNTech’s chief executive, Prof Uğur Şahin, told the Guardian in a wide-ranging interview he only was notified of the outcome of the interim trials on Sunday at 8pm in a call from the Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who himself had only been informed three minutes earlier by the independent monitoring board.
      “We want to develop this vaccine as quickly as possible, and we have our own system of coordinates,” Şahin said in response to Trump’s accusation. “Every day counts, and we were desperately waiting for the day of the trial results. It couldn’t come early enough.”
      “Pharmaceutical research should never be politicised. It’s a question of integrity. Withholding information would have been unethical. What’s important for us is that we are developing a vaccine and we don’t play politics.”
      Others have criticised the two companies for not holding on to their information long enough. Bourla raised eyebrows when he sold $5.6m (£4.2m) in stock as company shares soared on Monday night.
      Pfizer says the shares were sold via an automated system after they hit a certain price, under a plan set up in August. More