Coronavirus daily update: Wednesday, Jan. 20

The big day

How about that folks? It may be too late to have a peaceful transition of power, but we had an inauguration loaded with magical moments — Amanda Gorman! — and the only thing that pissed me off, besides Sen. Ted Cruz’s smug face, is the realization that Mike Pence has seen Lady gaga perform live and I have not.

I stole that joke from Twitter, which was lit today with inauguration takes and screenshots of disappointed Qanons who now have to figure out a way to get invited to Thanksgiving with their families again.

I wrote my column about all the things I didn’t want to write about.

And Sayaka did some digging about COVID cases in the Guilford and Forsyth jails (spoiler: It’s worse in Forsyth).

As for Trump, this is the part when history lowers its ass on his head.

The numbers

• In North Carolina, 6,415 new cases today makes 690,912. With 8,200 deaths
  • Hospitalizations drop to 3,740
  • 11.8 percent positive test rate, level.
  • No new vaccine numbers.
• Guilford fixed its dashboard, reporting 629 new cases (ouch) for 28,726. With 345 deaths (+0), and 5,274 active cases.
• Forsyth has 256 new ones, 25,473 total. With 255 deaths (-1, which is weird) and 4,333 current cases.

A diversion

The first televised American presidential inauguration was in 1949, for Harry S. Truman. Dig it.

Program notes

• “A Mosque,” by Alberto Pasini in 1886. Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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