npr--2020-10-24--'Historic Opportunity': Chile Holds Vote To Replace Dictatorship-Era Constitution

After a wave of mass protests , and amid a pandemic , the people of Chile go to the polls Sunday for a historic referendum over whether the country should scrap its dictatorship-era constitution and write a new one .
Opinion surveys suggest the electorate will vote `` yes , '' bringing an end to the 40-year-old charter that was imposed during the rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet , and has long been seen by many Chileans as the underlying source of many of their grievances .
The vote comes a year after Chile 's capital , Santiago , erupted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a small rise in public transportation fares , but which developed into a prolonged uprising over social and political inequality and spread to other cities .
Tensions are running high ahead of the referendum , stoked by violent skirmishes last Sunday at a gathering of tens of thousands of Chileans commemorating the one-year anniversary of the start of the mass protests .
Several police stations were also attacked , and two churches were burned .
A new constitution was among the demands commonly made by demonstrators last year when they flooded the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anger and call for change .
The protesters raised a broad range of issues — from the poor quality of pensions , health care and education , to private water rights and chronic abuses suffered by Chile 's Indigenous minority .
The protests were by far the largest in Chile since the return to democracy in 1990 , and severely shook the country of 19 million — until recently considered one of Latin America 's more stable and prosperous nations .
They left at least 30 Chileans dead and thousands injured .
According @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rights , 460 people suffered eye trauma injuries , mostly caused by police rubber pellets and tear gas canisters .
Although the mass demonstrations were largely peaceful , rioters and vandals torched shops and businesses , and trashed metro stations , causing several billions of dollars in estimated damages .
In November , as pressure mounted on Chile 's deeply unpopular billionaire president , Sebastián Piñera , the country 's political parties in Congress hammered out an agreement to hold a constitutional referendum in April .
This was later postponed because of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issue has been the focus of heated debate .
Earlier this year , NPR visited a crowded Santiago fruit market and found divided views .
Housewife Monica Daza , 60 , said she welcomes a new constitution because the current one `` only helps businessmen , not the public . ''
Lemon salesman Juan Carlos Godoy , 47 , said `` we do n't see how it 'll change our lives . ''
The referendum asks Chileans if they want to get rid of the 1980 constitution and , if so , how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Voters are offered a choice between an entirely new elected constitutional assembly , or a hybrid body comprising current lawmakers and elected citizens .
Discussions are expected to grind on for months as the assembly thrashes out what kind of country Chile should now become .
Once complete , the new constitution will be put to a second referendum .
Many Chileans are eager to dump the Pinochet-era document because they view it both as a symbol of the dictatorship , and the embodiment of an economic system that prioritizes the market economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a `` historic opportunity '' to replace an `` illegitimate constitution ... determined by a dictator and imposed by force '' with a `` new social agreement , '' said Claudio Nash , a professor of international law at the University of Chile .
`` In Chile the right to health is not guaranteed as a right , '' he said .
`` What is guaranteed is the freedom of people to choose the health system they want — the public system , the private system — but access to quality health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not getting what they were promised '' Yet some Chileans dispute whether a new constitution will solve the country 's underlying issues .
`` My concern is that we are setting ourselves up for a process that will ultimately fail and lead people to a higher level of disappointment with the political system , because they are not getting what they were promised they would get , '' said political scientist Patricio Navia , during a Wilson Center discussion last week .
Navia argued that Chileans are mainly looking to the new charter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` What they will get is a whole new constitution , and not necessarily a longer bill of rights that can be enforced , '' he said .
Navia pointed out those who would draft the new constitution would not address the cost of the promises it enshrines , and said Chile 's next government will be under strong pressure because `` it 's just going to be impossible to come up with enough money . ''

'Historic Opportunity': Chile Holds Vote To Replace Dictatorship-Era Constitution
Enlarge this image toggle caption Esteban Felix/AP Esteban Felix/AP
After a wave of mass protests, and amid a pandemic, the people of Chile go to the polls Sunday for a historic referendum over whether the country should scrap its dictatorship-era constitution and write a new one.
Opinion surveys suggest the electorate will vote "yes," bringing an end to the 40-year-old charter that was imposed during the rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and has long been seen by many Chileans as the underlying source of many of their grievances.
The vote comes a year after Chile's capital, Santiago, erupted in anti-government protests that were triggered by a small rise in public transportation fares, but which developed into a prolonged uprising over social and political inequality and spread to other cities.
Tensions are running high ahead of the referendum, stoked by violent skirmishes last Sunday at a gathering of tens of thousands of Chileans commemorating the one-year anniversary of the start of the mass protests. Several police stations were also attacked, and two churches were burned.
A new constitution was among the demands commonly made by demonstrators last year when they flooded the streets for nearly three months to vent their anger and call for change. The protesters raised a broad range of issues — from the poor quality of pensions, health care and education, to private water rights and chronic abuses suffered by Chile's Indigenous minority.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Luis Hidalgo/AP Luis Hidalgo/AP
The protests were by far the largest in Chile since the return to democracy in 1990, and severely shook the country of 19 million — until recently considered one of Latin America's more stable and prosperous nations.
They left at least 30 Chileans dead and thousands injured. According to Chile's National Institute of Human Rights, 460 people suffered eye trauma injuries, mostly caused by police rubber pellets and tear gas canisters. Although the mass demonstrations were largely peaceful, rioters and vandals torched shops and businesses, and trashed metro stations, causing several billions of dollars in estimated damages.
"Only helps businessmen"
In November, as pressure mounted on Chile's deeply unpopular billionaire president, Sebastián Piñera, the country's political parties in Congress hammered out an agreement to hold a constitutional referendum in April. This was later postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, the issue has been the focus of heated debate. Earlier this year, NPR visited a crowded Santiago fruit market and found divided views. Housewife Monica Daza, 60, said she welcomes a new constitution because the current one "only helps businessmen, not the public." Lemon salesman Juan Carlos Godoy, 47, said "we don't see how it'll change our lives."
The referendum asks Chileans if they want to get rid of the 1980 constitution and, if so, how a new one should be drafted. Voters are offered a choice between an entirely new elected constitutional assembly, or a hybrid body comprising current lawmakers and elected citizens.
Discussions are expected to grind on for months as the assembly thrashes out what kind of country Chile should now become. Once complete, the new constitution will be put to a second referendum.
Many Chileans are eager to dump the Pinochet-era document because they view it both as a symbol of the dictatorship, and the embodiment of an economic system that prioritizes the market economy over social welfare.
The country now has a "historic opportunity" to replace an "illegitimate constitution ... determined by a dictator and imposed by force" with a "new social agreement," said Claudio Nash, a professor of international law at the University of Chile.
"In Chile the right to health is not guaranteed as a right," he said. "What is guaranteed is the freedom of people to choose the health system they want — the public system, the private system — but access to quality health care is not guaranteed."
"Not getting what they were promised"
Yet some Chileans dispute whether a new constitution will solve the country's underlying issues.
"My concern is that we are setting ourselves up for a process that will ultimately fail and lead people to a higher level of disappointment with the political system, because they are not getting what they were promised they would get," said political scientist Patricio Navia, during a Wilson Center discussion last week.
Navia argued that Chileans are mainly looking to the new charter to provide them with expanded social rights. "What they will get is a whole new constitution, and not necessarily a longer bill of rights that can be enforced," he said.
Navia pointed out those who would draft the new constitution would not address the cost of the promises it enshrines, and said Chile's next government will be under strong pressure because "it's just going to be impossible to come up with enough money."


npr--2020-10-24--Parents Of 545 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border Have Not Been Located

Parents Of 545 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border Have Not Been Located NPR 's Scott Simon talks to reporter Cindy @ @ @ @ @ children in the US who were separated from their families and whose parents can not @ @ @ @

Parents Of 545 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border Have Not Been Located
NPR's Scott Simon talks to reporter Cindy Carcamo about the 545 migrant children in the US who were separated from their families and whose parents cannot now be located.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Federal court filings made this week by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Justice Department say that the parents of some 545 migrant children who are currently in the United States have not been found. These parents were separated from their children at the U.S. border by border officials under President Trump's zero tolerance policy from 2017 to 2018, and the filing says the parents are now unreachable.
Cindy Carcamo covers immigration for the Los Angeles Times and joins us. Cindy, thanks for being with us.
CINDY CARCAMO: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: What does it mean that these parents are unreachable?
CARCAMO: I think people kind of have to understand that some of these parents are in really remote regions, places that are really even tough to get to by vehicles, where you have to basically park your vehicle and trek in, walk in for a good day's worth of walking. It's tough terrain up there, basically. I mean, when I was on the ground...
SIMON: Yeah, 'cause you've tried to find a number of these families on your own.
CARCAMO: Right, right. It was me and a videographer that were following a group of attorneys - Guatemalan attorneys in Huehuetenango, basically in the highlands of Guatemala. The people on the ground don't necessarily have a full name or full address, or they might have the wrong name or the wrong address. Or people move or they are hiding because, you know, it was one of the reasons why they left in the first place with their child because they would fear for their lives. So, you know, they get deported back, and they're hiding out.
Also, language difficulties in Guatemala - you have more than a dozen different indigenous languages. There are people who don't speak Spanish.
And, you know, there's also - in some of these communities, there's a lot of distrust. They don't trust strangers. There's a history of lands being taken away and things of that sort and kidnappings. And so that's another impediment, too. Almost everyone we spoke with wanted their child back - the people that we could reach. But, you know, at first, some of them were very skeptical and didn't want to talk with us, didn't know why we were asking about their child. They were wondering if we were trying to extort them. These are all the obstacles - right? - that these on-the-ground people - the searchers, the people who are looking for the parents - are having to face.
SIMON: The court filing says the search committee's found the parents for nearly a third of all the youngsters - that's about 1,500, according to government lists - who were separated from their parents during the zero tolerance policy. The filing also says the search committee - this is a quote - "has yet to identify any families that definitely seek to have their child returned to their respective country of origin." What do you make of that?
CARCAMO: There's a reason why some of these people fled, right? I'm not saying all, but I think some, especially asylum-seekers, do have legitimate fears of whatever it is that's in their country that's driving them away, basically, that made them ask for asylum in the first place. And so they may not necessarily want their child to come back to these dangerous situations. So that's one thing that I think we should keep in mind.
And I think, you know, right now in the courts, what they're trying to fight for - at least the ACLU - is for these parents to be reunited with their children in the United States and not necessarily at their country of origin. And the Department of Homeland Security is saying no. You know, if they want to be reunited, the children should go back to the countries of origin.
SIMON: Which forces the parents to confront bringing their child back to what they consider to be an unsafe situation.
CARCAMO: Right. It's a difficult decision to make, I think, as a parent, you know? I did hear of a few, like, handful of cases where the parents wanted to - you know, the child was maybe a little older, 12 or 13, a boy. And they thought that that, you know...
SIMON: Yeah.
CARCAMO: ...That he could fend for himself, maybe, in the United States and would rather give him a chance at life in the U.S..
SIMON: And, of course, during the presidential debate, President Trump said that President Obama had begun these policies, had built the original cages for children. Is that true?
CARCAMO: The Obama administration did separate families, but it was not at this scale, and it was not systemic as it was under the Trump administration. In addition, those cages that everyone talks about - those children in cages - the Obama administration did build these temporary shelters. And, yes, they looked like cages, and the children were being kept there, but they were not separated from their mother or father by the U.S. government. They were unaccompanied children.
SIMON: Cindy Carcamo is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Thanks so much for being with us.
CARCAMO: Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Sudan And Israel Agree To Normalize Relations In Deal Brokered By White House

Sudan And Israel Agree To Normalize Relations In Deal Brokered By White House Audio will be available later today .
@ @ @ @ @ the White House , Sudan has agreed to normalize ties with Israel .
It 's @ @ @ @ @ country that has long been bitterly opposed to Israel .

Sudan And Israel Agree To Normalize Relations In Deal Brokered By White House
In a deal brokered by the White House, Sudan has agreed to normalize ties with Israel. It's a big step for a country that has long been bitterly opposed to Israel.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The U.S. has helped broker a deal for Israel and Sudan to normalize ties. It is now the third Arab country to do so under the Trump administration. As NPR's Eyder Peralta reports, for Sudan, it's a delicate move.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: The press corps came into the Oval Office yesterday while President Trump was still on the phone with the leaders of Israel and Sudan. Trump then made a sweeping pronouncement.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The state of Israel and the Republic of Sudan have agreed to make peace.
PERALTA: For decades, Sudan has been an Islamist state. In the '90s, it was home to Osama bin Laden. But last year, a popular uprising led to a coup that ousted longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. Since then, a civilian and military transitional government has led the country. And it's been shaky. The economy has collapsed. Protests still abound.
And the issue of Israel is tricky. Normalization was likely to anger the Islamists and many of the young people who helped bring this government to power. So the government had been skirting the issue, saying it did not have the mandate to make a decision on something so big.
HAJOOJ KUKA: So we were assured that this was not going to happen, and we were assured more than once.
PERALTA: That's activist Hajooj Kuka. He says he was shocked because the Sudanese people weren't consulted.
KUKA: So it was something that was enforced on us in a dictatorship way, in the same way as the government that we took away.
PERALTA: The United States did not make this decision easy for Sudan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had strongly hinted the U.S. would not remove Sudan from its terrorist blacklist unless it agreed to normalize ties with Israel. Getting off the list would mean Sudan gets access to desperately needed investment and aid. Political analyst Khalid Ali says the U.S. foisted the deal on Sudan's fragile transitional government.
KHALID ALI: This is a free political ad for Donald Trump.
PERALTA: By late evening, Sudan put a huge caveat on Trump's sweeping announcement in a statement on state television. Normalization with Israel, it said, will not happen until approved by Parliament, a parliament that hasn't even been formed.
Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Nairobi.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--University Of Texas Students Call For Removal Of Song Steeped In Racist History

University Of Texas Students Call For Removal Of Song Steeped In Racist History Audio will be available later today .
@ @ @ @ @ plans to boycott today 's football game against Baylor .
The song the Longhorn band @ @ @ @ @ Texas , has racist roots that are fracturing the campus .

University Of Texas Students Call For Removal Of Song Steeped In Racist History
The University of Texas band plans to boycott today's football game against Baylor. The song the Longhorn band usually plays, Eyes OF Texas, has racist roots that are fracturing the campus.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
University of Texas band will not play during today's football game against Baylor. Tensions on and off the UT campus in Austin are growing over its school song, "The Eyes Of Texas." The controversy has frustrated alumni and politicians and could derail some of the racial reconciliation efforts that began after the police killing of George Floyd. Jimmy Maas of member station KUT reports. And one note - KUT's newsroom is independent, but its broadcast license is held by the University of Texas.
JIMMY MAAS, BYLINE: For generations, there's been a ritual for most University of Texas students and alumni. Graduations, pep rallies, wedding receptions and sporting events have ended singing "The Eyes Of Texas."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) Until Gabriel blows his horn.
(APPLAUSE)
MAAS: Texas athletes were required to stand on the field until the song was over, but this season it's different. Social justice protests inspired many Texas athletes to ask for changes to support Black students, including replacing "The Eyes Of Texas." So what's the problem? In short, the phrase the eyes of Texas are upon you was repeatedly used by former school president William Prather after he took office in 1899. He got it from Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who would end post-Civil War speeches with the eyes of the South are upon you. Then students created the song and performed it in blackface at minstrel shows.
RICHARD REDDICK: It might be about "The Eyes Of Texas," but it's really about how we interpret American history.
MAAS: This is Richard Reddick, associate dean for equity, community engagement and outreach in the UT College of Education.
REDDICK: I mean, this is a conversation that can take place on many college campuses, on many issues and items of symbolism in this country because they often do have these origins that are partly veiled and partly, wow, I just found that out. And that's kind of disturbing, right?
MAAS: Many students and alumni knew nothing of the song's legacy. The football team has drawn criticism for leaving the field before the song is played, as has been tradition. The band has not been to any games thus far because of COVID. It was supposed to make its debut today, but now it won't. Not enough band members say they're willing to play it.
John Fleming was the school's first African American drum major. He has since been actively involved in the Longhorn alumni band, a group that is as fractured on this issue as everyone else associated with the campus.
JOHN FLEMING: I'm a Black man standing in a white uniform leading all of these people in a song that I'm not sure that I'm - I'm pretty sure I'm not happy with knowing what I know about it.
MAAS: UT's Reddick is leading a committee to figure out a path forward by January, keeping "The Eyes Of Texas" but with a more complete accounting and acknowledgment of its past. Reddick is aware the issue is politically charged and people are emotionally invested in the outcome.
REDDICK: This is the reconciliation moment, I hope, that we sort of have this conversation as a community and figure out what goes next. And obviously what we come up with hopefully is a starting point, right? So I hope that inspires people to do more examination and more thinking and more listening.
MAAS: Just as it has in Texas's previous home games this season, a recorded "Eyes Of Texas" will play today at the stadium. Who stays to listen remains to be seen. For NPR News, I'm Jimmy Maas in Austin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--U.S. Finds 1st 'Murder Hornet' Nest In Washington State

Entomologists in Washington State have located the first ever nest of the Asian giant hornet in the U.S .
They @ @ @ @ @ '' to its nest by attaching it with a miniature radio tracker .

U.S. Finds 1st 'Murder Hornet' Nest In Washington State
Entomologists in Washington State have located the first ever nest of the Asian giant hornet in the U.S. They tracked the "murder hornet" to its nest by attaching it with a miniature radio tracker.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Scientists have been trying to track an Asian giant hornet, also known as a murder hornet, back to its nest ever since one was spotted in the U.S. last year. This week, a breakthrough. Here's Karla Salp with the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
KARLA SALP: Ladies and gentlemen, we did it.
SIMON: But not easily. One of the hornets they caught and tagged with a tracking device died. Another chewed the contraption off. I mean, can you blame it? Scientists managed to revive one of the last trapped hornets with strawberry jelly, and off it flew with a team of scientists running after it. Sounds like a cartoon. Researchers came to a tree and stopped. Entomologist Sven-Erik Spichiger heard a buzz and then another.
SVEN-ERIK SPICHIGER: I took a step back and realized we were actually standing right under the nest. We had, in fact, tracked her straight back to where she came from.
SIMON: It's the first nest of murder hornets found in the U.S. And today, the team will try to remove it. They have to work quickly. The hornets are heading into their breeding season.
SPICHIGER: We're going to extract them alive. The easiest thing for us to do is to just simply collect them in a chamber. And that's what the vaccum that helps us to do.
SIMON: The murder hornets earned their nickname because that's how they treat honeybees. They don't know how many more nests are out there, but the scientists say the hunt for the Asian giant hornets will continue until they get every single last one.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN CARROLL KIRBY'S "ARROYO SECO")
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Employees Who Work At Multiple Nursing Homes May Have Helped Spread The Coronavirus

Employees Who Work At Multiple Nursing Homes May Have Helped Spread The Coronavirus Cell phone data shows that contract workers @ @ @ @ @ homes helped transmit the coronavirus between facilities .

Employees Who Work At Multiple Nursing Homes May Have Helped Spread The Coronavirus
Cell phone data shows that contract workers who work at multiple nursing homes helped transmit the coronavirus between facilities.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Nursing homes have been devastated by the coronavirus. More than 84,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19. A new study finds that people who work at multiple nursing homes may help spread the virus. But limiting health workers' jobs could hurt the very people that nursing homes rely on. Jackie Fortier at member station KPCC in Los Angeles reports.
JACKIE FORTIER, BYLINE: Martha Tapia works at two different nursing homes in Orange County, Calif., and she worries about bringing the coronavirus home to her granddaughter.
MARTHA TAPIA: I start work at 7, and I finish at 11.
FORTIER: That's 7 in the morning to 11 o'clock at night. Tapia is almost 60, and she works 64 hours a week. She's one of thousands of certified nursing assistants, who are predominantly women of color, who bathe, dress and feed the nation's fragile elderly.
TAPIA: We do everything for them.
FORTIER: At the nursing home where she works in the morning, she gets an N95 mask that she has to reuse and leave there. At her nursing home job in the afternoons, she only gets a blue surgical mask.
TAPIA: They say they cannot give us N95s.
FORTIER: Tapia tries to protect herself by buying her own N95 masks. She doesn't want to work at multiple nursing homes, but her Southern California rent is $2,200 a month.
TAPIA: I don't want to get sick, but we need to work. We need to eat. We need to pay rent.
FORTIER: In March, when the coronavirus began racing through nursing homes, the federal government banned visitors, but coronavirus infections kept spreading. UCLA professor Keith Chen tried to figure out why.
KEITH CHEN: The people who we can infer work in this nursing home - what other nursing homes do they work at?
FORTIER: Chen's study used anonymous cellphone data to help see the movements of people into and out of nursing homes. The data showed a lot of nursing home workers are, like Martha, working at more than one.
CHEN: When you learn that over 20 of your workers are also spending time in other nursing homes, that should be a real red flag.
FORTIER: Chen and his team found that on average, each nursing home is connected to seven other nursing homes. They also found the more shared workers a nursing home had, the more COVID-19 infections among the patients. UCLA professor Elisa Long also worked on the study.
ELISA LONG: There are some facilities in Florida, in New Jersey where they're sharing upwards of 50 to 100 workers. Again, this is over an 11-week time period, but that's a huge number of individuals that are moving between these facilities. All of these are potential sources of COVID transmission.
FORTIER: The California Association of Health Facilities represents most nursing homes in the state. In response to the study, the group said they can't prevent workers like Martha Tapia from taking jobs elsewhere, and they can't pay them more because California doesn't pay them enough through Medicaid. But Mike Dark doesn't buy that argument. He's an attorney that works on nursing home reform. And he says the state already tried paying nursing homes more in 2006.
MIKE DARK: That money tends to go into the pockets of the executives and the administrators who run these places.
FORTIER: Instead, he says regulators need to focus on the basics, especially in the roughly 100 California nursing homes with ongoing outbreaks.
DARK: Right now, there's poor access to PPE. There is still erratic compliance with things like hand-washing requirements.
FORTIER: And it's not just patients who are at risk. Nursing home workers, like Martha Tapia, are also contracting COVID-19. In California alone, 152 of them have died since the pandemic began.
For NPR News, I'm Jackie Fortier in Los Angeles.
SIMON: And this story comes from NPR's partnership with KPCC and Kaiser Health News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Trump's Support From Latino Voters Holds Steady

Audio will be available later today .
About a third of Latino voters view Trump favorably and it breaks down @ @ @ @ @ More Latino men support the president , citing his economic policies and his tough guy @ @

Trump's Support From Latino Voters Holds Steady
About a third of Latino voters view Trump favorably and it breaks down a long gender lines. More Latino men support the president, citing his economic policies and his tough guy approach.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump is holding steady or doing better with Latino voters than he did in 2016, according to polls. That may be surprising. The president has called Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers, and his presidency is haunted with images of immigrant children separated from their parents in crowded detention centers. But as NPR's Leila Fadel reports, his support is not waning, and most of it comes from men.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Reymundo Torres is a staunch supporter of this president.
REYMUNDO TORRES: The thing that initially attracted me and keeps me tied to him is that he has taught Republicans how to not just win, but no longer throw our faces and bodies in front of every punch that the left is willing to throw.
FADEL: Torres is Arizonan, ethnically Mexican and a devout Catholic. He says what he likes is that Trump doesn't take any mess from Democrats or what he calls establishment Republicans. So on Election Day, he's voting for the president. Top of mind for him is the courts and the more than 200 judges Trump's appointed in his time in office.
TORRES: My family's been in Arizona for more than a hundred years. We don't see ourselves as immigrants. We see ourselves very much as Arizonans and Americans. To continue to treat us as if we're all still just fresh across the border, which most Republicans and a lot of Democrats would like to think we are just to easily encapsulate us, is something that is not resounding.
FADEL: And Torres is part of about or just over a quarter of Latinos who are strongly or somewhat in support of this president. Michelle Mayorga, a New Mexico-based pollster, says the backbone of the support comes from men.
MICHELLE MAYORGA: Hispanic men, in particular, are a swing vote. They're a vote that we have to go and get.
FADEL: And while Democrats will likely win the majority of Latino votes overall, the margins are narrower with men. A New York Times/Siena College poll found that Vice President Joe Biden leads by 34 percentage points among Latina voters. But with Latino men, his lead is just 8 points.
MAYORGA: Republicans will take a larger margin than maybe they have in the past, or enough that, you know, it is starting to eat into the Democratic margin.
FADEL: The Republican Party has been courting the Latino vote for decades, says historian Geraldo Cadava, who wrote a book on Hispanic Republicans. President Richard Nixon set the tone.
GERALDO CADAVA: Nixon did it through a kind of politics of patronage and high-level appointments.
FADEL: He appointed the first Hispanic treasurer of the United States, a Mexican American woman, and appointed Latinos to other top positions. The big question is why. Why is the number holding steady or, in some places, going up slightly despite anti-immigration policies and offensive language about African and Latino immigrants?
CADAVA: I think I would point first to the development over a long period of time of a partisan loyalty to the Republican Party. And Latino Republican voters just identify as Republicans above all else, just like many Americans.
FADEL: Also, Cadava says Latino voters vote on issues of religious freedom, the economy. Trump's argument about a strong pre-COVID-19 economy for Latinos resonates, as does his law and order messaging. Many Latinos are cops, Border Patrol officers or in the military. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has made a concerted effort to court the vote early.
CADAVA: I think it's been kind of amazing to watch. I mean, in some ways, the Latinos for Trump campaign, which started officially in the spring of 2019, has been relentless in recruiting Latino voters. They're actually trying to increase and have been trying to increase Trump's Latino support, not just kind of hold it steady or depress the turnout of Democrats.
FADEL: That's the first thing Randall Avila, the executive director of the Orange County Republican Party, talks about when knocking on doors of other Latino voters in Southern California. He points to low unemployment rates for Latinos pre-pandemic, the party's preference for school choice and lower taxes.
RANDALL AVILA: I have never seen the Republican Party fight this hard to get Latino and African American votes. I can definitely understand why there's some hesitancy based off some past comments or policies, but I don't believe that is the Republican Party of today. You know, we have a number of Latino candidates, a number of Latino Republicans who are really stepping up and taking center stage.
FADEL: Avila says he hopes that resonates because come November, the party will need the votes to flip the four congressional seats they lost in 2018 in Orange County and hold on to their county seat.
Leila Fadel, NPR News.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Some Boston Landlords Flout Eviction Bans, Pressure Tenants To Leave

Eviction bans were supposed to keep tenants in their homes amid the pandemic .
But an investigation found landlords pressured @ @ @ @ @ , to move out when they could n't pay .

Some Boston Landlords Flout Eviction Bans, Pressure Tenants To Leave
Eviction bans were supposed to keep tenants in their homes amid the pandemic. But an investigation found landlords pressured tenants, especially immigrant workers, to move out when they couldn't pay.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A group tracking evictions estimates that as many as 120,000 people have been forced from their homes during the pandemic despite federal and state bans aimed at protecting tenants. An investigation by member station WBUR has found some landlords threatening renters, badgering them to pay or move out and even calling law enforcement. Beth Healy reports.
BETH HEALY, BYLINE: Last spring, Marvin Moreno lost his job at a fish plant because of the pandemic. He scrambled to pay the rent on his East Boston apartment with help from the state. But tensions rose with his landlord as money grew tight. Despite a Massachusetts ban on evictions, the owner asked him to move out.
MARVIN MORENO: (Speaking Spanish).
HEALY: You're only giving me eight days to leave. I'm not going to find a place in eight days, Moreno recalls telling the landlord. He asked for some time to find a new apartment, but the answer was no. Moreno moved out on October 1, he says, because of the stress. Thousands of people around the country are facing illegal threats from their landlords, according to Princeton University's Eviction Lab. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says her office has received more than 200 complaints about landlords violating the moratorium.
MAURA HEALEY: Here's what we hear. We hear about landlords threatening to change the locks on people, reporting tenants to ICE, threatening to evict people following a positive COVID test.
HEALY: She says immigrants are especially vulnerable. WBUR spoke with tenants around Boston and checked out their stories with texts and records, as well as with lawyers or housing advocates. One family stopped paying rent in July because the landlord wasn't taking care of the house. A burst pipe ruined their furniture, and cockroaches infested the apartment. But the landlord served them a notice to leave in August, even though that was illegal under the state ban. He also threatened to call immigration if they didn't pay, they say. The landlord denies this, but on October 5, ICE agents showed up.
ISSAC SIMON HODES: So as far as we know, ICE arrested this man outside of his home. They've got him locked in a truck right now, unmarked, with no plate on the front.
HEALY: Isaac Simon Hodes was one of dozens of local activists who came that day to demand ICE release Robelio Gonzalez. The family's 13-year-old daughter watched from the steps.
HODES: She's here with us. She's in tears. She's extremely distraught.
HEALY: They eventually did let Gonzalez go so the girl would not be left alone. Doug Quattrochi represents small property owners at a group called MassLandlords. He says these are tough times for small property owners, too.
DOUG QUATTROCHI: People can't operate rental housing without rent coming in. Housing isn't free.
HEALY: But he also did not defend the actions of Gonzalez's landlord.
QUATTROCHI: That situation sounds like a complete and total mess, and it sounds like the landlord was not entirely doing their job. It's a tough situation for sure, but no one should be breaking the law or shirking on their obligations as a housing provider.
HEALY: A woman named Mercedes has been fighting cancer and lost her job because of the pandemic. We're using her first name only because she fears retaliation by her landlord, who's been pressuring her to leave because she can't pay the rent.
MERCEDES: (Speaking Spanish).
HEALY: Mercedes says she's gotten a slew of texts from the landlord, demanding money and making her feel like her every move is being scrutinized. Her biggest problem now isn't her stage 4 cancer, she says, it's having a place to live. The state's eviction ban ended October 17. Now she's like so many other renters trying to stay above water during the pandemic and wondering where they will go when the federal eviction ban expires at the end of this year. For NPR News, I'm Beth Healy in Boston.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Week In Politics: Breaking Down Trump And Biden's Last Presidential Debate

Week In Politics : Breaking Down Trump And Biden 's Last Presidential Debate With the election fast approaching we discuss @ @ @ @ @ 's debate between President Trump and Joe Biden .

Week In Politics: Breaking Down Trump And Biden's Last Presidential Debate
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Ten days until the most contentious presidential election in recent memory will be over - maybe. Of course, millions of Americans have already cast their ballots. The two candidates met this week for a debate, which, at times, actually resembled one. We're joined now by NPR's Ron Elving. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: Debate No. 2 - maybe less to talk about because it was a bit more civil, would you say?
ELVING: A bit more, more than a little. It reminded us quite a bit of a presidential debate or what they were once supposed to be. It probably didn't change many minds. But for those still undecided, there was some substantive information to be had along with the impressions and the exaggerations and, of course, outright falsehoods. This was probably the last opportunity for either of these two candidates to address a national audience before Election Day. And we should remember, something like 50 million Americans have already voted. And that's perhaps only a third of the record total of votes we expect to see by the end of this process. Estimates are the turnout rate will be the highest in more than a century.
SIMON: And how are these two candidates going to spend these few precious days until November 3?
ELVING: You know, Joe Biden's going to be hitting the key swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania. That's where he is today. He'll be wearing his mask, holding pandemic-style events like we've seen. He also has former President Obama out there. We saw him just this last week. He was in Pennsylvania. And he's out there on the stump rallying Democrats.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the president is locked into a frenzied round of rallies in his coming days - five this weekend alone. And despite the pandemic, his often mask-less crowds can be expected to pack together to hear him. Just today, I saw a poll from Pew Research that says only 1 Trump voter in 4 thinks that the COVID is even an important voting issue.
So these events showcase the enthusiasm of Trump's strongest supporters. And he believes they show him as a winner. Here we have this 74-year-old man just recently recovered from COVID. He's out there performing, drawing on whatever sources of energy he may have, projecting his closing message, a victory over the virus. He says we've turned the corner. He says it's going away. But, Scott, 1,000 Americans died of COVID on the day of that debate. And yesterday, we had 85,000 new cases - a new single-day record.
SIMON: And, Ron, still no new relief bill for those suffering from the pandemic. Do both parties think there's some kind of political advantage they can gain in not passing something before Election Day?
ELVING: This is less about the presidential campaigns and more about Congress, where there's a mix of principle and cold-eyed election calculus at work here. Lots of Democrats want a big package of relief, and they think a skinny one is counterproductive. And they want to help cities and states that are going bankrupt right now. Generally, Republicans oppose that. But Republicans, especially in the Senate, are divided over how much to do right now. At least half the Senate Republicans think we have to stop. Let's look at the numbers. They point out that the federal budget last year just ended with a record $3 trillion - $3 trillion - in the red. That's a lot of new debt in one year. You know, when Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980, he called it a major scandal that the federal debt, going all the way back to George Washington up to Ronald Reagan, was approaching $1 trillion. Well, now we have $3 trillion in new debt in just 12 months.
SIMON: Let me follow up on something you said earlier, Ron. Projections, if they're on target, show this could be the highest turnout in more than a century.
ELVING: That's right. 1908 was the highest turnout rate. And, of course, since then, the franchise has been greatly expanded. Just a century ago, we added women to the list of people who were qualified to vote in America. And then, of course, about 50 years ago, we added people 18 years old. So it's a much, much larger group of people. So when we get a turnout rate as high as it was in 1908, it's going to blow the doors off and be 150 million people.
SIMON: Well, NPR's Ron Elving, thanks so much for being with us. We have a lot to look forward to, don't we?
ELVING: Yes, we do. And thank you, Scott.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-24--Robocalls, Rumors And Emails: Last-Minute Election Disinformation Floods Voters

Dirty tricks and disinformation have been used to intimidate and mislead voters for as long as there have been elections .
But they have been especially pervasive this year as millions of Americans cast ballots in a chaotic and contentious election .
This has led to stepped-up efforts by election officials and voter advocates to counter the disinformation so voters are not discouraged from turning out .
`` 2020 has been a year like no other because not only have we seen a higher volume of online mis- and disinformation , we have also changed a lot of processes about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administer elections , '' said Jesse Littlewood , who leads the Stopping Cyber Suppression program for Common Cause .
His nonpartisan group has already identified close to 5,000 incidents this year .
Littlewood noted that the shift to more mail-in voting because of the pandemic has opened the way for a whole new wave of disinformation .
One of the most high-profile cases involved robocalls that went to tens of thousands of minority voters in Michigan , Pennsylvania , Ohio , Illinois and New York .
The calls falsely claimed that voting by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting sounds great , '' a woman 's voice warned .
`` But did you know that if you vote by mail your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit companies to collect outstanding debts ? ''
The woman went on to say — falsely — that the government could use the information to track people down for mandatory vaccines .
`` Do n't be finessed into giving your private information to the man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' she concluded .
Two right-wing operatives , Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman , have since been charged with using the calls to intimidate voters , which is a felony .
Federal authorities also announced this week that Iran was behind threatening emails sent to thousands of Democrats in Florida and Alaska and made to appear as though they came from the far-right extremist group , the Proud Boys .
The emails warned voters that the group had gained access to their personal information and that `` you will vote for Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after you . ''
Usually , it 's difficult to identify the source of election disinformation , although it appears to come from a variety of people and groups with different agendas .
Some are trying to discourage voters of the opposite party from voting .
Others , such as Russia and Iran , want to disrupt U.S. elections and undermine confidence in the system .
Whatever the source , social media allow the disinformation to spread rapidly , and fringe news organizations sometimes pick up the false information and spread it even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election disinformation in his effort to make the case that mail-in voting can not be trusted .
For example , he has repeatedly claimed that ballots were abandoned in a ditch in Wisconsin , although that is not true .
Efforts to mislead voters can take many forms .
Voters at early polling sites in Palm Beach County , Fla. , recently received fake Democratic voting guides listing far-right Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer instead of the Democratic candidate .
Online disinformation has been especially widespread .
Facebook posts have warned voters that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poll worker puts a mark on it , such as their initials , even though that 's a requirement in many states .
The fake claim led numerous election officials to issue statements such as this one from the North Carolina State Board of Elections : `` In North Carolina , this is false . ''
( The state 's release put `` false '' in bold . )
Other misleading messages include tweets that Democrats will vote on Nov. 3 ( the correct date ) and Republicans will vote on Nov. 4 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someone can go online and change people 's votes .
Neither claim is true .
One false rumor circulated in Texas that bar codes on mail-in ballot envelopes can reveal personal information , including whether the voter is a Republican or a Democrat .
After receiving several ballots with blacked-out bar codes , Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia took to Twitter and posted a video warning voters that this could lead to their ballots being rejected .
`` So please , I 'm begging you .
Do not tamper with the bar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he pleaded .
There have also been reports of numerous scams involving election information .
Oklahoma officials said one voter received a text message that her polling place had changed , and the attached phone number turned out to be for an escort service .
Scammers have also used fake voter registration sites and ballot tracking services to trick voters into sharing their personal information .
Election officials and federal authorities have been worried for months about the impact such disinformation can have on elections and voter confidence .
They 've been working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take down any misleading information as soon as it 's identified .
They have also launched a nationwide campaign encouraging voters to get their information from trusted sources , such as secretaries of state or local election offices .
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently set up a site to knock down malicious election rumors , especially those originating from foreign adversaries .
Agency Director Christopher Krebs told reporters that making sure Americans have the facts is `` one of the best tactics and techniques @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disinformation operations and influence ops . ''
Still , he and others expect that efforts to mislead voters will only increase in the days ahead .
In a joint statement Thursday , federal and state authorities said American voters `` must remain diligent .
... Be prepared for attempts to confuse or misinform ; be prepared before casting your ballot ; and be prepared for foreign efforts aimed at sowing division and undermining the legitimacy of the election .
An informed public is the best defense we have to # Protect2020 . ''

Robocalls, Rumors And Emails: Last-Minute Election Disinformation Floods Voters
Enlarge this image toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Dirty tricks and disinformation have been used to intimidate and mislead voters for as long as there have been elections. But they have been especially pervasive this year as millions of Americans cast ballots in a chaotic and contentious election.
This has led to stepped-up efforts by election officials and voter advocates to counter the disinformation so voters are not discouraged from turning out.
"2020 has been a year like no other because not only have we seen a higher volume of online mis- and disinformation, we have also changed a lot of processes about our society, including the way we administer elections," said Jesse Littlewood, who leads the Stopping Cyber Suppression program for Common Cause. His nonpartisan group has already identified close to 5,000 incidents this year.
Voting shift drives disinformation
Littlewood noted that the shift to more mail-in voting because of the pandemic has opened the way for a whole new wave of disinformation.
One of the most high-profile cases involved robocalls that went to tens of thousands of minority voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and New York. The calls falsely claimed that voting by mail could be dangerous.
"Mail-in voting sounds great," a woman's voice warned. "But did you know that if you vote by mail your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit companies to collect outstanding debts?"
The woman went on to say — falsely — that the government could use the information to track people down for mandatory vaccines. "Don't be finessed into giving your private information to the man. Stay safe and beware of vote-by-mail," she concluded.
Two right-wing operatives, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, have since been charged with using the calls to intimidate voters, which is a felony.
Federal authorities also announced this week that Iran was behind threatening emails sent to thousands of Democrats in Florida and Alaska and made to appear as though they came from the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys. The emails warned voters that the group had gained access to their personal information and that "you will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you."
Social media as disinformation vector
Usually, it's difficult to identify the source of election disinformation, although it appears to come from a variety of people and groups with different agendas. Some are trying to discourage voters of the opposite party from voting. Others, such as Russia and Iran, want to disrupt U.S. elections and undermine confidence in the system.
Whatever the source, social media allow the disinformation to spread rapidly, and fringe news organizations sometimes pick up the false information and spread it even further.
President Trump has also amplified election disinformation in his effort to make the case that mail-in voting cannot be trusted. For example, he has repeatedly claimed that ballots were abandoned in a ditch in Wisconsin, although that is not true.
Fake voting guides, scams, bar codes
Efforts to mislead voters can take many forms. Voters at early polling sites in Palm Beach County, Fla., recently received fake Democratic voting guides listing far-right Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer instead of the Democratic candidate.
Online disinformation has been especially widespread. Facebook posts have warned voters that their ballots will be invalidated if a poll worker puts a mark on it, such as their initials, even though that's a requirement in many states. The fake claim led numerous election officials to issue statements such as this one from the North Carolina State Board of Elections: "In North Carolina, this is false." (The state's release put "false" in bold.)
Other misleading messages include tweets that Democrats will vote on Nov. 3 (the correct date) and Republicans will vote on Nov. 4 because of COVID-19 restrictions, and that someone can go online and change people's votes. Neither claim is true.
One false rumor circulated in Texas that bar codes on mail-in ballot envelopes can reveal personal information, including whether the voter is a Republican or a Democrat. After receiving several ballots with blacked-out bar codes, Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia took to Twitter and posted a video warning voters that this could lead to their ballots being rejected.
"So please, I'm begging you. Do not tamper with the bar code on your carrier envelope," he pleaded.
There have also been reports of numerous scams involving election information. Oklahoma officials said one voter received a text message that her polling place had changed, and the attached phone number turned out to be for an escort service. Scammers have also used fake voter registration sites and ballot tracking services to trick voters into sharing their personal information.
Election officials and federal authorities have been worried for months about the impact such disinformation can have on elections and voter confidence. They've been working with social media companies to identify and take down any misleading information as soon as it's identified. They have also launched a nationwide campaign encouraging voters to get their information from trusted sources, such as secretaries of state or local election offices.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently set up a site to knock down malicious election rumors, especially those originating from foreign adversaries.
Agency Director Christopher Krebs told reporters that making sure Americans have the facts is "one of the best tactics and techniques we have right now to counteract these disinformation operations and influence ops."
Still, he and others expect that efforts to mislead voters will only increase in the days ahead. In a joint statement Thursday, federal and state authorities said American voters "must remain diligent. ... Be prepared for attempts to confuse or misinform; be prepared before casting your ballot; and be prepared for foreign efforts aimed at sowing division and undermining the legitimacy of the election. An informed public is the best defense we have to #Protect2020."


npr--2020-10-24--U.S. Records Highest Number Of Coronavirus Cases In 1 Day Since Pandemic Began

U.S. Records Highest Number Of Coronavirus Cases In 1 Day Since Pandemic Began The United States hit a record high number of confirmed daily coronavirus cases Friday , recording more than 83,000 new cases , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .
The number surpasses the previous record of more than 77,000 cases in mid-July .
The U.S. also recorded 943 deaths due to COVID-19 Friday .
More than 8 million people in the U.S. have been infected with the virus , and more than 223,000 people have died from the disease since the pandemic began , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 42 million cases have been reported worldwide .
One day earlier , 71,671 new coronavirus cases were reported in the U.S. on Thursday .
Cases have been rising sharply in the U.S. since mid-September , with new outbreaks picking up in several states .
Hospitalizations have also been on the rise .
The COVID Tracking Project reports 41,485 currently hospitalized as of Friday .
The number is more than half of the highs recorded during the coronavirus surges in the spring and summer of 2020 .
Unlike past surges , where a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current high is being propelled by many states .
Texas currently has the most recorded cases , followed by Illinois , Wisconsin and Florida .
Despite the rise in cases , there has been some good news .
Two peer-reviewed studies recently showed a drop in mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 , suggesting health care workers have gotten better at helping patients survive the disease .
One study found that the mortality rate among hospitalized patients dropped 18 percent , from 25.6 percent to 7.6 percent .
The mortality rate remains high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to suffer complications long after recovering .

U.S. Records Highest Number Of Coronavirus Cases In 1 Day Since Pandemic Began
Enlarge this image toggle caption Elaine Thompson/AP Elaine Thompson/AP
The United States hit a record high number of confirmed daily coronavirus cases Friday, recording more than 83,000 new cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The number surpasses the previous record of more than 77,000 cases in mid-July.
The U.S. also recorded 943 deaths due to COVID-19 on Friday. More than 8 million people in the U.S. have been infected with the virus, and more than 223,000 people have died from the disease since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 42 million cases have been reported worldwide.
One day earlier, 71,671 new coronavirus cases were reported in the U.S. on Thursday. Cases have been rising sharply in the U.S. since mid-September, with new outbreaks picking up in several states. Hospitalizations have also been on the rise. The COVID Tracking Project reports 41,485 coronavirus patients were hospitalized as of Friday. The number is more than half of the highs recorded during the coronavirus surges in the spring and summer.
Unlike past surges, where a few states drove up case numbers, the current high is being propelled by many states. Texas currently has the most recorded cases, followed by Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida.
Despite the rise in cases, there has been some good news. Two peer-reviewed studies recently showed a drop in mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, suggesting health care workers have gotten better at helping patients survive the disease. One study found that the mortality rate among hospitalized patients dropped from 25.6 percent to 7.6 percent.
The mortality rate remains high compared with other diseases, and some continue to suffer complications long after recovering.


npr--2020-10-24--Universal Mask Wearing Could Save Some 130,000 Lives In The U.S., Study Suggests

Universal Mask Wearing Could Save Some 130,000 Lives In The U.S. , Study Suggests Universal mask wearing in public could greatly reduce the number of Americans who die by COVID-19 by February , a study published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine projects .
Researchers at the University of Washington 's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation made estimates based on some assumptions under different scenarios .
In what they describe as the worst-case scenario , they project that COVID-19 deaths could exceed a million between September 2020 and February 2021 if what they call `` the current pattern of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In a second scenario that they think is more likely , they say 511,000 could die between September and February under the assumption that `` states would once again shut down social interaction and some economic activity '' for six weeks once deaths reach a certain threshold per million residents .
But in a third scenario where 95 % of the population dons face coverings and social restrictions are in place , the projection is for deaths to be about 381,000 — or about 130,000 fewer than under the second scenario .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Americans with restrictions , it could still save some 96,000 lives , they say .
The study analyzed previous COVID-19 deaths and cases between Feb. 1 and Sept. 21 .
Researchers also pulled information from various surveys — including ones by Facebook and YouGov — to estimate that as of Sept. 21 , only 49 % of Americans reported always wearing a mask .
The study also assumed a 40 % reduction in risk of COVID transmission due to a mask usage .
Earlier studies estimated masks can reduce transmission by at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that changes in policies and behavior could affect outcomes and that epidemics progress in a way that is are `` difficult to observe directly and at scale . ''
`` It is unreasonable to expect any model to do everything well , so each model makes compromises to serve a purpose , while maintaining computational tractability , '' researchers wrote .
According to data from Johns Hopkins University , more than 224,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus .

Universal Mask Wearing Could Save Some 130,000 Lives In The U.S., Study Suggests
Enlarge this image toggle caption Patrick Smith/Getty Images Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Universal mask wearing in public could greatly reduce the number of Americans who die by COVID-19 by February, a study published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine projects.
Researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation made estimates based on some assumptions under different scenarios.
In what they describe as the worst-case scenario, they project that COVID-19 deaths could exceed a million between September 2020 and February 2021 if what they call "the current pattern of easing" restrictions continues in states.
In a second scenario that they think is more likely, they say 511,000 could die between September and February under the assumption that "states would once again shut down social interaction and some economic activity" for six weeks once deaths reach a certain threshold per million residents.
But in a third scenario where 95% of the population dons face coverings and social restrictions are in place, the projection is for deaths to be about 381,000 — or about 130,000 fewer than under the second scenario.
If that mask percentage changes to 85% of Americans with restrictions, it could still save some 96,000 lives, they say.
The study analyzed previous COVID-19 deaths and cases between Feb. 1 and Sept. 21. Researchers also pulled information from various surveys — including ones by Facebook and YouGov — to estimate that as of Sept. 21, only 49% of Americans reported always wearing a mask.
The study also assumed a 40% reduction in risk of COVID transmission due to a mask usage. Earlier studies estimated masks can reduce transmission by at least 30%.
Researchers also noted that changes in policies and behavior could affect outcomes and that epidemics progress in a way that is are "difficult to observe directly and at scale."
"It is unreasonable to expect any model to do everything well, so each model makes compromises to serve a purpose, while maintaining computational tractability," researchers wrote.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 224,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus.


npr--2020-10-24--A Federal Coronavirus Vaccine Contract Released At Last, But Redactions Obscure Terms

A Federal Coronavirus Vaccine Contract Released At Last , But Redactions Obscure Terms Even as the companies enlisted by the government 's Operation Warp Speed project to develop COVID-19 vaccines say they 're making quick progress , details of their lucrative federal contracts have been slow to emerge .
But late Friday the Department of Health and Human Services released its August contract with Moderna .
When announcing the deal , HHS said it was worth $ 1.5 billion and would secure the first 100 million doses of the company 's vaccine and the option to buy up to 400 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lack of disclosure around the terms of the federal contracts with companies involved in the crash program to make COVID-19 vaccines .
Most of the contracts have n't been released .
While the publicly posted Moderna contract includes previously unknown details , extensive redactions leave the public in the dark about some of the company 's obligations as well as the extent of protections for taxpayers .
It 's 53-pages long , but only 14 of them are free of redactions .
Some of the redactions obscure information that has already been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for example , is blacked out with a note that it is n't disclosable under public records law because it is a trade secret .
However , the $ 1.5 billion value of the deal was trumpeted by HHS in its August announcement , and Moderna , a frontrunner in the vaccine program , included the news in a financial filing the same day .
`` There 's no question that that is not confidential , '' says Kathryn Ardizzone , a lawyer at Knowledge Ecology International , a nonprofit public interest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` HHS was less transparent than Moderna . ''
An HHS spokesperson emailed the following statement about the release to NPR : Moderna spokesman Ray Jordan says that the company will be discussing details of the contract during its quarterly earnings call next Thursday , but he had no additional comment regarding the intellectual property or data rights provisions in the contract when he spoke to NPR on Saturday .
Moderna will get an extra $ 300 million if it receives approval or an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2021 , '' according to a company disclosure about this contract .
But the speed bonus one of many things that has been redacted from the contract that HHS released .
The newly released Moderna contract does reveal a clause that is standard in drug development that receives funding from the federal government .
It allows the government to `` march in '' and take control of a drug or vaccine if a manufacturer that received federal financial support engages in price gouging , for example .
That clause is a relief , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ecology International .
Of the Operation Warp Speed contracts that have been made public , not all of them include this safeguard .
But the process under these so-called Bayh-Dole protections is often lengthy , requiring a series of administrative and court proceedings and an appeal process .
`` In the case of COVID-19 , that 's not an ideal situation , '' Love says .
Given the pandemic , Love says he thinks the government should have included an exceptional circumstances authority to this part of the Moderna contract , which could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vaccine patents .
`` We thought the COVID [ -19 ] pandemic completely fit the bill for exceptional circumstances , '' Love says , adding that KEI wrote a letter to the agency and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about this .
`` They would have much more leverage over the people receiving the money on any policy they wanted to connect to the right to use the patent . ''
Although the Moderna contract is heavily redacted , it includes a list of contracting regulations that , if expanded , would include @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protections , says attorney Franklin Turner , a partner at McCarter and English who specializes in government contracting .
If the government does n't think Moderna is complying with the contract , for example , it has the right to terminate the contract and go after the company for damages .
`` Are taxpayers being adequately protected as a matter of regulation ?
My answer is yes , '' he says .
The government `` impose [ s ] extensive obligations on the contractor to govern the procurement . ''
Turner says it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ redactions in the work requirement section of the contract because that 's something the government sets and should n't include trade secrets .
However , he says he believes `` there 's nothing nefarious here . ''
Data rights , which would govern disclosure and sharing of key studies , cell lines and the know-how to make a product , are less clear in the Moderna contract because they 've been heavily redacted .
`` The fact that the government is not open-sourcing the know-how to make vaccines in this pandemic when it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and clinical trials and soup to nuts on a lot of these vaccines is a massive policy failure , '' Love says .
The government released three other contracts at the same time it released Moderna 's .
One contract is with Ology Bioservices , a manufacturer of biological products , for vaccine and antibody drug production .
The other two contracts — one to Becton , Dickinson & Co. and another to Retractable Technologies Inc. — cover syringes and needles for administering vaccines .
The patent and data rights included in these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , advocacy groups and journalists had been asking for Operation Warp Speed 's procurement contracts for months .
At least two nonprofits , KEI and Public Citizen , sued when their public records requests went unanswered .
KEI has obtained some contracts through public records requests , and it discovered that important clauses were missing or redacted .
None of the vaccine contracts that have been made public so far include those that NPR first reported went through a third party called Advanced Technology International .
NPR is still trying to obtain those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of more than $ 6 billion .
You can contact NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin at slupkin @ npr.org .

A Federal Coronavirus Vaccine Contract Released At Last, But Redactions Obscure Terms
Enlarge this image toggle caption Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Even as the companies enlisted by the government's Operation Warp Speed project to develop COVID-19 vaccines say they're making quick progress, details of their lucrative federal contracts have been slow to emerge.
But late Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services released its August contract with Moderna. When announcing the deal, HHS said it was worth $1.5 billion and would secure the first 100 million doses of the company's vaccine and the option to buy up to 400 million more.
Overall, there is a lack of disclosure around the terms of the federal contracts with companies involved in the crash program to make COVID-19 vaccines. Most of the contracts haven't been released.
While the publicly posted Moderna contract includes previously unknown details, extensive redactions leave the public in the dark about some of the company's obligations as well as the extent of protections for taxpayers.
It's 53 pages long, but only 14 of them are free of redactions.
Some of the redactions obscure information that has already been disclosed. The value of the contract, for example, is blacked out with a note that it isn't disclosable under public records law because it is a trade secret.
However, the $1.5 billion value of the deal was trumpeted by HHS in its August announcement, and Moderna, a front-runner in the vaccine program, included the news in a financial filing the same day.
"There's no question that that is not confidential," says Kathryn Ardizzone, a lawyer at Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit public interest group that focuses on intellectual property. "HHS was less transparent than Moderna."
An HHS spokesperson emailed the following statement about the release to NPR:
"The documents that were posted were reviewed by both the government and the company, as is general practice. Based on this process, as well as the applicable law, the posted document includes the information we determined as properly releasable at this time. Operation Warp Speed is committed to being as transparent as possible. The government will continue to monitor what is releasable over time as part of this commitment to transparency."
Moderna spokesman Ray Jordan says that the company will be discussing details of the contract during its quarterly earnings call this Thursday, but he had no additional comment regarding the intellectual property or data rights provisions in the contract when he spoke to NPR on Saturday. He later said that contract details may be disclosed after the earnings call instead of during it.
Moderna will get an extra $300 million if it receives approval or an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration "on or before January 31, 2021," according to a company disclosure about this contract. But the speed bonus is one of many things that has been redacted from the contract that HHS released.
The newly released Moderna contract does reveal a clause that is standard in drug development that receives funding from the federal government. It allows the government to "march in" and take control of a drug or vaccine if a manufacturer that received federal financial support engages in price gouging, for example.
That clause is a relief, says James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International. Of the Operation Warp Speed contracts that have been made public, not all of them include this safeguard.
But the process under these so-called Bayh-Dole protections is often lengthy, requiring a series of administrative and court proceedings and an appeal process. "In the case of COVID-19, that's not an ideal situation," Love says.
Given the pandemic, Love says he thinks the government should have included an exceptional-circumstances authority to this part of the Moderna contract, which could potentially allow the U.S. government to own the vaccine patents.
"We thought the COVID pandemic completely fit the bill for exceptional circumstances," Love says, adding that KEI wrote a letter to the agency and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about this. "They would have much more leverage over the people receiving the money on any policy they wanted to connect to the right to use the patent."
Although the Moderna contract is heavily redacted, it includes a list of contracting regulations that, if expanded, would include dozens or hundreds of pages of taxpayer protections, says attorney Franklin Turner, a partner at McCarter & English who specializes in government contracting. If the government doesn't think Moderna is complying with the contract, for example, it has the right to terminate the contract and go after the company for damages.
"Are taxpayers being adequately protected as a matter of regulation? My answer is yes," he says. The government "impose[s] extensive obligations on the contractor to govern the procurement."
Turner says it isn't typical to see such broad redactions in the work requirement section of the contract because that's something the government sets and it shouldn't include trade secrets. However, he says he believes "there's nothing nefarious here."
Data rights, which would govern disclosure and sharing of key studies, cell lines and the know-how to make a product, are less clear in the Moderna contract because they've been heavily redacted. "The fact that the government is not open-sourcing the know-how to make vaccines in this pandemic when it's paying for the building of factories and clinical trials and soup to nuts on a lot of these vaccines is a massive policy failure," Love says.
The government released three other contracts at the same time it released Moderna's. One contract is with Ology Bioservices, a manufacturer of biological products, for vaccine and antibody drug production. The other two contracts — one to Becton, Dickinson & Co. and another to Retractable Technologies Inc. — cover syringes and needles for administering vaccines. The patent and data rights included in these contracts are inconsistent.
Members of Congress, advocacy groups and journalists had been asking for Operation Warp Speed's procurement contracts for months. At least two nonprofits, KEI and Public Citizen, sued when their public records requests went unanswered. KEI has obtained some contracts through public records requests, and it discovered that important clauses were missing or redacted.
None of the vaccine contracts that have been made public so far include those that NPR first reported went through a third party called Advanced Technology International. NPR is still trying to obtain those contracts, which have a combined value of more than $6 billion.
You can contact NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin at slupkin@npr.org.


npr--2020-10-24--Jerry Jeff Walker, Who Wrote 'Mr. Bojangles,' Dies At 78

Country music singer Jerry Jeff Walker , the man behind `` Mr. Bojangles , '' died Friday after a battle with throat cancer .
He was 78 .
`` He was at home until an hour before his passing , '' his wife of 46 years , Susan Walker , told the Austin American-Statesman .
`` He went very peacefully , which we were extremely grateful for . ''
Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in New York in 1942 , Walker cut his teeth in the folk music scene of Greenwich Village in the '60s .
After spending a night in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mid-60s , Walker wrote `` Mr. Bojangles , '' which would go on to become a hit and attract several covers by other famous artists including Bob Dylan , Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr. After moving to Austin in 1971 , Walker had an outsize impact on the country music scene there , helping to create genre known as `` outlaw country '' — a sort of blend between rock and folk — which was also popularized by Willie Nelson and others around the same time .
`` Other than Willie , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to happen to Austin , Texas , I would have to say , '' Ray Benson of the country group Asleep at the Wheel told the Tennessean .
`` He really brought that folksinger/songwriter form to its height in Texas .
And for that , he 'll be eternal , because there 's all these kids today that write songs in that mode . ''
Fans of Jimmy Buffett may have Walker to thank for his association with Key West .
In Buffett 's 1998 biography , he credited Walker with introducing him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ watering holes '' from Miami to Key West .
During his 51-year recording career , Walker released 36 albums .
Eschewing what he perceived of as sterile recording studios , Walker recorded many of his albums at home or in various dance halls .
In the mid-'80s , Walker and his wife formed their own label , Tried & True Music , which they ran out of their Austin home .
The homegrown label handled all of Walker 's bookings , tour promotion , merchandise and publicity .
In a 2018 interview with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his wife had done pretty well for two people who did n't know much about the music business .
`` We make it up out of the air , '' Walker said , contrasting his label with the more well-known companies .
`` These people do n't really have any more idea about how it goes than we do . ''

Jerry Jeff Walker, Who Wrote 'Mr. Bojangles,' Dies At 78
Enlarge this image toggle caption Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Country music singer Jerry Jeff Walker, the man behind "Mr. Bojangles," died Friday after a battle with throat cancer. He was 78.
"He was at home until an hour before his passing," his wife of 46 years, Susan Walker, told the Austin American-Statesman. "He went very peacefully, which we were extremely grateful for."
Born Ronald Clyde Crosby in New York in 1942, Walker cut his teeth in the folk music scene of Greenwich Village in the '60s. After spending a night in a New Orleans drunk tank in the mid-60s, Walker wrote "Mr. Bojangles," which would go on to become a hit and attract several covers by other famous artists including Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr.
After moving to Austin in 1971, Walker had an outsize impact on the country music scene there, helping to create genre known as "outlaw country" — a sort of blend between rock and folk — which was also popularized by Willie Nelson and others around the same time.
"Other than Willie, Jerry Jeff is the most important musician to happen to Austin, Texas, I would have to say," Ray Benson of the country group Asleep at the Wheel told the Tennessean. "He really brought that folksinger/songwriter form to its height in Texas. And for that, he'll be eternal, because there's all these kids today that write songs in that mode."
Fans of Jimmy Buffett may have Walker to thank for his association with Key West. In Buffett's 1998 biography, he credited Walker with introducing him to "all the funky bars and watering holes" from Miami to Key West.
During his 51-year recording career, Walker released 36 albums. Eschewing what he perceived of as sterile recording studios, Walker recorded many of his albums at home or in various dance halls.
In the mid-'80s, Walker and his wife formed their own label, Tried & True Music, which they ran out of their Austin home. The homegrown label handled all of Walker's bookings, tour promotion, merchandise and publicity.
In a 2018 interview with the Statesman, Walker noted that he and his wife had done pretty well for two people who didn't know much about the music business.
"We make it up out of the air," Walker said, contrasting his label with the more well-known companies. "These people don't really have any more idea about how it goes than we do."


npr--2020-10-24--With Stops In 4 Key States, Biden And Trump Bring Their Closing Arguments To Voters

With Stops In 4 Key States , Biden And Trump Bring Their Closing Arguments To Voters A few dozen cars at a drive-in rally in suburban Pennsylvania honked in unison as Democratic nominee Joe Biden blasted President Trump 's handling of the coronavirus .
In North Carolina , Trump told a packed crowd : `` COVID , COVID , COVID .
By the way , on Nov. 4 , you wo n't hear about it anymore . ''
With 10 days to go before Election Day , the president is zipping across the country on Air Force One on Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ replicate the energy of his first campaign 's final week in 2016 .
Biden , meanwhile , is running a final stretch tailored to the realities of a worsening pandemic , maintaining a scaled-back itinerary for himself and fanning out top surrogates for socially distant , drive-in rallies in swing states .
The approach the two candidates are taking in this final leg of the campaign mirrors the divergent narratives they 're trying to convey about the pandemic and the choice voters face this fall .
Backed by wagons and a stage decorated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden told a small audience that while the social distancing is n't ideal , `` what we do n't want to do is become superspreaders , '' a nod to the White House Rose Garden ceremony where several members of the president 's circle are believed to have become infected with the coronavirus .
The former vice president eviscerated Trump 's handling of the pandemic and portrayed a more dire picture of the road ahead with the pandemic .
`` It 's going to be a dark winter unless we change our ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tell us we 're going to lose nearly another 200,000 lives nationwide in the next several months , all because this president cares more about the stock market than he does you . ''
His remarks came a day after the U.S. hit a record number of confirmed daily coronavirus cases , recording more than 83,000 new cases on Friday .
While Biden has built his closing argument around the pandemic , Trump has been painting a rosier portrait of the coronavirus ' trajectory .
In North Carolina , the president appeared in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with little mask-wearing and mocked Biden 's assessment that Americans are staring down a dark winter ahead .
`` Very inspiring guy , '' Trump said about his opponent .
`` We 're rounding the turn .
We 're doing great , our numbers are incredible . ''
Trump repeated unverified allegations about the business activities of Biden 's son Hunter and otherwise mostly stuck to his typical campaign stump speech , promising to reopen the country and promote law and order .
He also , without evidence , said the only way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud from mail ballots , pointing to the small size of Biden 's campaign events compared with his spirited rallies .
Trump is headlining rallies Saturday in three states he won in 2016 but is now in danger of losing , with polls showing Biden leading or in a tight race with the president in several key states .
From North Carolina , the president heads to Ohio and then to Wisconsin , which is facing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country .
In Ohio , Trump will be in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of the vote in 2016 , before heading to Waukesha County , Wis. , where Trump won in 2016 with an almost 30-point margin .
Vice President Pence is campaigning in Florida .
Trump on Sunday will rally in New Hampshire , the only state on his calendar this weekend that would expand his map from 2016 .
Biden is expected to remain in Delaware on Sunday .
In a campaign call , the Trump campaign said the Republicans ' ground game , plus Trump 's breakneck campaign schedule in the final @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president to a second term .
The Trump campaign has boasted about the millions of doors knocked on by volunteers , while the Biden campaign has largely stuck with remote outreach .
Biden and key surrogates on Saturday were campaigning not only in states Democrats lost in 2016 — states important to a Biden victory like Pennsylvania and Florida — but also places once seen as territory friendlier to Trump , like Ohio .
The former vice president began Saturday in Bucks County , Pa. , a suburban county Hillary Clinton won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do even better .
He then flew to Luzerne County , which Trump flipped red in 2016 , for a drive-in rally with rock star Jon Bon Jovi .
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is stumping for Biden in Pennsylvania on Saturday as well .
`` We have 10 days left , and it may come down to Pennsylvania , '' Biden told the crowd in Bucks County .
Biden 's running mate , California Sen. Kamala Harris , campaigned Saturday in Cleveland and former President Barack Obama held an event in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debut last week in Philadelphia , the former president delivered another blistering attack Saturday on Trump 's handling of the coronavirus , his behavior and his management of the economy .
`` Just this week , he complained that the pandemic was making him go back to work , '' Obama said .
`` If he 'd been working in the first place , we would have never seen the situation get this bad . ''
Obama also made a forceful case for his former vice president and encouraged people to vote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matter for decades to come . ''
According to a database compiled by Michael McDonald at the University of Florida , more than 50 million people have already voted in the election .

With Stops In 4 Key States, Biden And Trump Bring Their Closing Arguments To Voters
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Andrew Harnik/AP
Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET
A few dozen cars at a drive-in rally in suburban Pennsylvania honked in unison as Democratic nominee Joe Biden blasted President Trump's handling of the coronavirus. In North Carolina, Trump told a packed crowd: "COVID, COVID, COVID. By the way, on Nov. 4, you won't hear about it anymore."
With 10 days to go before Election Day, the president is zipping across the country on Air Force One, holding large rallies and trying to replicate the energy of his first campaign's final week in 2016. Biden, meanwhile, is running a final stretch tailored to the realities of a worsening pandemic, maintaining a scaled-back itinerary for himself and fanning out top surrogates for socially distant, drive-in rallies in swing states.
The approach the two candidates are taking in this final leg of the campaign mirrors the divergent narratives they're trying to convey about the pandemic and the choice voters face this fall.
Backed by wagons and a stage decorated with pumpkins and bales of hay, Biden told a small audience on Saturday that while the social distancing isn't ideal, "what we don't want to do is become superspreaders," a nod to the White House Rose Garden ceremony where several members of the president's circle are believed to have become infected with the coronavirus.
The former vice president eviscerated Trump's handling of the pandemic and portrayed a more dire picture of the road ahead with the pandemic.
"It's going to be a dark winter unless we change our ways," Biden said. "Experts tell us we're going to lose nearly another 200,000 lives nationwide in the next several months, all because this president cares more about the stock market than he does you."
His remarks came a day after the U.S. hit a record number of confirmed daily coronavirus cases, recording more than 83,000 new cases on Friday.
While Biden has built his closing argument around the pandemic, Trump has been painting a rosier portrait of the coronavirus' trajectory.
In North Carolina, the president appeared in front of a crowd of several thousand with little mask-wearing and mocked Biden's assessment that Americans are staring down a dark winter ahead.
"Very inspiring guy," Trump said about his opponent. "We're rounding the turn. We're doing great, our numbers are incredible."
Trump repeated unverified allegations about the business activities of Biden's son Hunter and otherwise mostly stuck to his typical campaign stump speech, promising to reopen the country and promote law and order.
He also, without evidence, said the only way he will lose is because of voter fraud from mail ballots, pointing to the small size of Biden's campaign events compared with his spirited rallies.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Evan Vucci/AP Evan Vucci/AP
Trump is headlining rallies Saturday in three states he won in 2016 but is now in danger of losing, with polls showing Biden leading or in a tight race with the president in several key states.
From North Carolina, the president heads to Ohio and then to Wisconsin, which is facing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country.
In Ohio, Trump will be in Pickaway County, where he won 68.5% of the vote in 2016, before heading to Waukesha County, Wis., where Trump won in 2016 with an almost 30-point margin. Vice President Pence is campaigning in Florida.
Trump on Sunday will rally in New Hampshire, the only state on his calendar this weekend that would expand his map from 2016. Biden is expected to remain in Delaware on Sunday.
In a campaign call, the Trump campaign said the Republicans' ground game, plus Trump's breakneck campaign schedule in the final days of the race, will propel the president to a second term. The Trump campaign has boasted about the millions of doors knocked on by volunteers, while the Biden campaign has largely stuck with remote outreach.
Biden and key surrogates on Saturday were campaigning not only in states Democrats lost in 2016 — states important to a Biden victory like Pennsylvania and Florida — but also places once seen as territory friendlier to Trump, like Ohio.
The former vice president began Saturday in Bucks County, Pa., a suburban county Hillary Clinton won narrowly in 2016 and where Biden wants to do even better. He then flew to Luzerne County, which Trump flipped red in 2016, for a drive-in rally with rock star Jon Bon Jovi. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is stumping for Biden in Pennsylvania on Saturday as well.
"We have 10 days left, and it may come down to Pennsylvania," Biden told the crowd in Bucks County.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lynne Sladky/AP Lynne Sladky/AP
Biden's running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, campaigned Saturday in Cleveland and former President Barack Obama held an event in Miami.
After his 2020 campaign trail debut last week in Philadelphia, the former president delivered another blistering attack Saturday on Trump's handling of the coronavirus, his behavior and his management of the economy.
"Just this week, he complained that the pandemic was making him go back to work," Obama said. "If he'd been working in the first place, we would have never seen the situation get this bad."
Obama also made a forceful case for his former vice president and encouraged people to vote, saying the next 10 days will "matter for decades to come."
According to a database compiled by Michael McDonald at the University of Florida, more than 50 million people have already voted in the election.