Coronavirus daily update: Wednesday, Aug. 26

The quick pivot

We got word that a man had been shot during a police chase. The cops said he shot himself, but the man insisted that the cops shot him. We ran with it, asking questions from all involved and interviewing his parents, who had come to town to tend to their son.

Today, Greensboro Police Department released the body-cam footage of the incident, in which the man, once apprehended, admitted that he shot himself. So we ran with that, too.

In journalistic terms, it’s a win. We found a definitive answer to a question that a lot of people were asking. And it’s safe to say we would never have seen that footage had we not done the story. These days in North Carolina, every second of body-camera footage shown to the public is a victory.

And it’s a good reminder to everyone that we’re watching the way police interact with citizens, and we’re taking notes.

Some news

• We’ve got some links up to stories in tomorrow’s paper, including this piece about Guilford County Commission races in districts 4 and 5.
• I spun some of my Update commentary about coronavirus at UNC schools into this column.
• And speaking of which, NC State sent everybody home today — they’re closing down the dorms, calling the situation “untenable.”

The numbers

• 1,244 new cases today — that’s a drop — makes 158,985 total diagnoses. Positive test rate 7.8 percent.
• Guilford County has 38 new cases, making 6,430. After 3,781 recoveries and 156 deaths, we have 2,493 existing cases, eight fewer than yesterday.
• Forsyth County adds 37 for 5,952 total. Minus 5,241 recoveries and 70 deaths, there are 641 existing cases, 19 fewer than yesterday.
• Why does Guilford have four times as many existing cases as Forsyth? Just asking.

A diversion

My grandfather was in World War II. He didn’t storm the beach at Normandy or anything — he was a dentist. But he was on the scene after they liberated Dachau. He didn’t talk about it much. He only told me a couple things about the war: He once met Gen. George Patton — “Eh,” he said with a shrug — and that he watched some very funny Sad Sack films, which I assumed were based on the newspaper strip that still existed when I was a kid in the 1970s. Good news: I found one. Can’t vouch for how funny it is.

Program notes

• For tonight’s featured image, we have “Basin Street,” by Remo Faruggio in 1938. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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