Coronavirus daily update: Friday, Oct. 23

Technical issues

In response to a big surge of new cases over the last seven days, the state coronavirus dashboard is down, and I can’t find any current numbers at the other sites that scrape the data.

Pretty sure it’s not good news.

UNC-Chapel Hill plans to have students back on campus in the spring after a coronavirus tsunami this fall necessitated its closing. But you can’t come back without a COVID-19 test.

And I’m personally pleased to report that App State, where two of my children study, has its current case load down to just 34 students. Though homecoming was last night, so….

Early voting totals in North Carolina are stunning. Eleven days before the election, and 36.88 percent of our registered voters have already voted, whether through absentee ballots (727,631) or early voting (1.97 million!)

I remind you that high turnout does not generally favor the Republican party.

The numbers

• The state has nothing to report until its “technical issues” are rectified.
• Guilford County has no such problems, reporting 119 new cases — that’s a lot — for 10,631, along with 194 deaths (+0) and 6,146 recoveries, making 4,291 current cases.
  • 93 of them are hospitalized.
• Forsyth County is also not reporting today’s numbers as of yet, but it’s after five so fuck it.

A diversion

I heard UNCSA alum David Gordon Green says he’s going to remake The Cannonball Run with fellow Fighting PickDanny McBride. Fine by me, maybe with less slapping. When was the last time you watched the original?

Program notes

• For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “Heart’s Ease” by William PW Dana, 1863. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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