Confessions of a news junkie
When the news cycle gets hot, man, I have to tell you that I am here for it. I need to know what’s happening, as it’s happening, and in the last 24 hours I’ve had two or three screens going at once, with updates from WFDD coming through on my Alexa.
When it gets hot like this I forego Facebook, which has become a powerful agent for misinformation, and veer over to Twitter, where I follow a bunch of journalists I trust who break news all damn day long. I’ve got a Twitter tab open in my browser window right now, and every few minutes I go over and refresh it to see what happens next.
Just did it, and I found out that Trumpies are tearing down barricades on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial right now.
Sweet Christ.
But this space is for pandemic stuff, and there’s been some news on that front locally and statewide.
Some news
- Gov. Cooper is using the National Guard to help distribute the vaccines in North Carolina. Rollout has not been going so well.
- Guilford and Forsyth are rolling out vaccines for residents over 75 years of age.
- A new high for daily cases in NC, which is staggering.
The numbers
- 10,398 new cases today. Wow. 592,746 total. And 137 new deaths makes 7,213.
- The County Alert System is back, naming 84 of 100 counties red and 12 more orange. Guilford and Forsyth are firmly in the red, defined as critical community spread.
- 13.5 percent positive test rate, trending down.
- 3,960 hospitalized, most ever.
- Guilford County had a bad day: 661 new cases, making an even 24,100. There have been 318 deaths, making 2,929 active cases, 257 of them hospitalized.
- 335 new cases in Forsyth County, for 22,248. With 233 deaths. 18,675 recoveries as of yesterday, no hospitalization numbers.
A diversion
New public-domain material! Here’s The Unholy Three, a silent horror/crime film from 1925 starring a young-ish Lon Cheney. No idea of the plot, really, but it looks like there’s a ventriloquist’s dummy in it, which is always a big plus.
- Tonight we’ve got a Frederick Remington from 1889, “Pitched It Sheer into the River… Where It Still Is Seen in the Summer.” Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
- If you’d like to help Triad City Beat, please consider becoming a supporter. You could also give us a like on Facebook and share our stories on Twitter.
Join the First Amendment Society, a membership that goes directly to funding TCB‘s newsroom.
We believe that reporting can save the world.
The TCB First Amendment Society recognizes the vital role of a free, unfettered press with a bundling of local experiences designed to build community, and unique engagements with our newsroom that will help you understand, and shape, local journalism’s critical role in uplifting the people in our cities.
All revenue goes directly into the newsroom as reporters’ salaries and freelance commissions.
Leave a Reply