Coming in hot

Vice President Mike Pence touched down at PTI today to address a crowd of about 100 — we’ve got photos right now, with a story to come. And he did it despite the fact that five of his staffers tested positive for coronavirus in the last few days, and against professional recommendations.

Never pegged Pence for such a loose cannon.

Meanwhile, Elon University has tightened up after a coronavirus surge — 466 current cases: All fraternity and sorority activity has been canceled, along with some sports, and made changes to dorm and dining rules.

Triad colleges and universities are faring much better.

  • UNCG — 168 students so far, with seven of them coming this week.
  • A&T — 199 total student cases, three in the last week.
  • Guilford College — 28 cases to date, three right now.
  • Greensboro College — 21 total cases among students, all recovered
  • High Point University — 22 active student cases
  • Winston-Salem State — 53 total cases, including students and staff
  • Salem College — No data
  • UNCSA — Seven cumulative cases among students, none of them active.
  • Wake Forest — “Orange” status, 68 positive tests this week, 51 last week.

The numbers

  • The downward trend ends with 2,141 new cases today in NC, and 1,214 hospitalized, a new high-water mark.
    • 32 new deaths for 4,211
    • 7.3 percent positive test rate. This is bad.
  • Forsyth adds 53 new ones, for 8,756. There are 119 dead (+0) and 7,532 recoveries. That means 1,105 current cases, a new high for Forsyth.
    Guilford County added 255 new cases today, for 11,041. There have been 199 deaths (+1) and 6,326 recoveries, so 4,516 active cases.

A diversion

When I described “Hee Haw” to my kids, they didn’t believe it was real, until I showed them. Here’s one from 1970, with Merle Haggard and Linda Ronstadt.

Program notes

  • For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “After a Long Cruise,” by John Carlin, who was both deaf and mute, in 1857. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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