Daily corona round-up

Pence, superspreading

It’s all true: Vice President Mike Pence will be in town tomorrow for a rally at PTI, this despite the fact that at least five of his key staffers have tested positive for coronavirus in the last few days.

Pence, as they say, is coming in hot.

Meanwhile, Early Voting continues apace.

More than 3.1 million North Carolinians have already voted, 43.3 percent of registered voters. As of yesterday in Guilford County, almost 130,000 people had used Early voting — not counting absentee.

The US Elections Project has a great guide, showing that in both Guilford and Forsyth, 43.9 percent right have already voted. They’re also clocking rejected absentee ballots, where Guilford is among the highest in the state. Click around!

The numbers

  • NC is on a three-day downward trend after a high-water mark of 2,716 new cases on Oct. 23. 1,643 new ones today, making our total 251, 937, blowing by the quarter-million mark.
    • 87 new deaths over the weekend, making 4,179 (state site is a little behind)
    • New recovery numbers: 231,611 — 91.93 percent — and 16,147 current cases, 1,193 of them hospitalized (7.38 percent)
    • 6.6 percent positive test rate
  • Guilford County adds 155 new cases just today, with 10,786 total after the weekend. Four new deaths today, for 198 total, 6,278 recoveries.
    • 4,310 current cases, 95 of them hospitalized (2.20 percent)
  • Forsyth County added 80 new cases just today, making 8,703 total. One new death today, for 119. No new recovery numbers as of yet.

A diversion

My daughter began the driving portion of driver’s ed today, so in recognition of that I’m posting the scare film — or rather, it’s sequel, “Red Asphalt II” — that they made us all watch in the 1980s. It’s sort of like “Scared Straight” for suburban kids trying to get their licenses.

Program notes

  • For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “The Return of Neptune,” by John Singleton Copely, 1754. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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