The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the previous record, as the coronavirus pandemic shrank revenues and sent spending soaring.
The Trump administration reported Friday that the deficit for the budget year that ended on Sept. 30 was three times the size of last year’s deficit of $984 billion. It was also $2 trillion higher than the administration had estimated in February, before the pandemic hit.
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An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room: Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday.
Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room: Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25, when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year. Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical, public health, economic, national security, supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET.
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Belmont University sent out an email to students condemning Sunday’s worship protest and asking students to self-report if they attended. The university cited concern over the “city’s ability to manage the spread of this virus.”
“Regardless of your personal views about COVID-related restrictions on religious worship, events like this severely challenge our city’s ability to manage the spread of this virus,” read the email. “If you are a Belmont student and you did attend this event without wearing a mask and maintaining proper distance from others, please contact Health Services so they can evaluate your potential exposure and determine if a period of quarantine or being tested is necessary.”
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last month in which the nearly 71 percent of individuals infected with COVID-19 reported “always” wearing their mask. This opposed to the 4 percent of infected individuals who “never” wore masks.
The number of individuals infected with COVID-19 positively correlated with the consistency of mask-wearing. The report didn’t address the possible correlation between face mask hygiene and COVID-19 infection, such as proper handling and disposal of masks. It also didn’t differentiate the respondents’ mask types.
Coronavirus cases around the world have climbed to all-time highs of more than 330,000 per day as the scourge comes storming back across Europe and spreads with renewed speed in the U.S., forcing many places to reimpose tough restrictions they had eased just a few months ago.
Well after Europe seemed to have largely tamed the virus that proved so lethal last spring, newly confirmed infections are reaching unprecedented levels in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland, and most of the rest of the continent is seeing similar danger signs.
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Players and coaches are growing increasingly frustrated as Ohio counties reveal different protocols for coronavirus exposure for high school football teams.
Matt Lancaster, the head coach for the Indian Valley High School football team in Tuscarawas County, said 16 of his students were quarantined after an exposure during a game on October 10.
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During Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, Sen. Amy Klobuchar opened her questioning of Judge Amy Coney Barrett by reciting statistics on COVID-19 deaths and cases.
“We should be doing something else right now. We shouldn’t be doing this. We should be passing coronavirus relief like the House just did, which was a significant bill that would have been a big help and I think people have to know that right now — whether you’re Democrat, Independent, or Republican and that’s why I started out yesterday by telling people that they need to vote,” she claimed.
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Some new evidence is showing Elementary and high schools do not appear to be super spreaders of COVID-19, according to new data.
The New York Post reports, Brown University economics Professor Emily Oster and data scientists at the technology company Qualtrics collected data on COVID-19 in schools. The data collected on almost 200,000 kids in 47 states from the last two weeks of September revealed an infection rate of 0.13 percent among students and 0.24 percent among staff.
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A University of Illinois student was evicted from his dorm and fired from his job as a resident assistant after refusing to quarantine per orders of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department. He told CBS 2 in Chicago and Campus Reform that he has never tested positive for COVID-19 and that this is all a mistake.
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After a session exceeding 12 hours, Michigan lawmakers passed bills replacing a framework for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 executive orders deemed unconstitutional by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Lawmakers approved measures aiming to allow local governments to meet electronically for any reason through Jan. 1; extend unemployment benefits to a full 26 weeks; change nursing home policy barring nursing homes from caring for COVID-19 patients unless the building provides a “designated area” for those patients; and, by Nov. 15, implement a statewide policy allowing in-person visitations for all nursing home residents.
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Although Ohio is allowing indoor visitation at nursing homes for the first time in months, some are still having trouble seeing their loved ones.
Melissa Ackison, 42, said she was forced to wear a mask to visit her grandmother, despite her having a medical exemption.
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The Michigan Supreme Court on Monday rejected Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s statement asserting her unconstitutional orders still hold power over Michiganders through Oct. 30.
Whitmer previously claimed her executive orders retained the force of law for 21 days after the court’s Oct. 2 ruling.
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Government officials in Sweden announced this week that the government expects to maintain its mild restrictions on gatherings “for at least another year” to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Unlike most other European countries and nations around the world, Sweden declined to initiate a nationwide lockdown or mask mandates, opting instead for a policy that restricted large gatherings and relied on social responsibility to slow transmission of the virus.
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The Tennessee Titans have heard some of the calls for the NFL to punish them harshly for the team’s role in the league’s first COVID-19 outbreak, and they have some words of caution after first-hand experience.
It’s still a pandemic.
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Thousands of Michiganders are wondering if criminal charges and fines levied against them are still valid after the Michigan Supreme Court last Friday ruled Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 executive orders issued after April 30 are illegal.
Some don’t have answers – yet.
Owosso barber Karl Manke’s attorney David Kallman told The Center Square he’s expecting Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office to drop criminal charges against Manke, who operated his barbershop in violation of Whitmer’s orders.
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President Trump caused a bit of a commotion this week when he didn’t die from the coronavirus. Much to the dismay of many folks on the left, he seems to be making a nice recovery from his illness. Perhaps what has offended people more than his continued life is the bravado that he is projecting post-hospitalization at Walter Reed. On Monday, he tweeted in part, “Feeling really good. Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” You can almost imagine the blood vessels popping in folks’ eyes over at CNN and MSNBC. In these politically polarized times, while half the country mourns the commander-in-chief’s apparent survival, perhaps it’s worthwhile for all Americans (and indeed, folks all around the world) to reconsider the level of pure panic and fear that our governments and the media have instilled in us.
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A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the president that inoculations could begin this month.
And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country is ill prepared for a projected winter surge of COVID-19.
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Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof plans to keep the pressure on Gov. Mike DeWine when he says he is considering allowing the state’s restaurants and bars to serve alcohol after 10 p.m.
DeWine, who in late July asked the liquor commission to order no alcohol sales after 10 p.m., has said over the past two weeks he is reviewing the ban and wants to balance its impact on small business with public health.
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Metro Public Health Department will officially resume an updated version of the controversial COVID-19 patient database for the benefit of first responders. This follows Metro Department of Communications (DEC) weeks-long interim testing for the database.
The Metro Board of Health discontinued the first version of the system in June due to privacy concerns. About two months later, the board decided to resume the database. The members discussed an interim database that would take six weeks to develop. This following database will serve as the more permanent solution.
An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room: Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday.
Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room: Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25, when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year. Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical, public health, economic, national security, supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET.
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Joe Biden has redefined mask wearing. It is now the thinking man’s patriotism, what every “scientific” and “refined” mind naturally does.
Biden, the media, and the progressive party all blame the now ill Trump for becoming infected. They accuse the president of becoming sick because he was selfish. You see, he was not always wearing a mask, or not always isolating in social-distancing fashion, or not always staying inside except for essential expeditionary trips.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she won’t agree to “standalone” bills for an airline bailout, direct payments or more stimulus funding for small businesses without an agreement on a “bigger” stimulus bill.
“The only point about negotiations is there ain’t going to be no standalone bill unless there’s a bigger bill and it could be part of that or it could be in addition to that,” said Pelosi, the leader of the Democrat-controlled House, who is negotiating with the White House on another coronavirus stimulus package.
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An additional 840,000 American workers filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending Oct. 3, down about 9,000 from the previous week’s revised number but still well above pre-pandemic levels.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the advance seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent for the week ending Sept. 26, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points from the prior week. Unemployment rate data lags the new initial claims report by a week.
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The uproar over the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis made one thing abundantly and terrifyingly clear: Coronavirus hysteria is here to stay—and there are signs it might be getting worse seven months after we first confronted the unknown disease.
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The White House blocked new vaccine guidelines proposed by health officials within the Trump administration, which likely would have pushed the approval of a coronavirus vaccine past the election.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is in charge of approving vaccines, proposed the guidance on Sept. 21, according to The New York Times. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows raised concerns with one provision of the guidelines which said vaccine trial subjects should be examined for two months following their final dose, a senior administration official told the Times.
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The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to sharply limit visas for skilled workers from overseas, a move officials said was a priority amid job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor officials said new rules for what’s known as the H1-B program will restrict who can obtain a work visa and will impose additional salary requirements on companies seeking to hire foreign workers.
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The University of Belmont announced Monday that it will be “100 percent” prepared to host the last U.S. presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Fox 17 reported.
“Twelve months ago, Belmont was selected to host the third and final presidential debate of 2020. With less than three weeks to go, we are fully committed to working with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) and our health advisors on final preparations and will continue to follow their lead and guidance,” Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, according to Fox 17.
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President Donald Trump abandoned COVID-19 relief talks on Tuesday, saying they won’t resume until after the election. The move came as the chairman of the Federal Reserve said that further fiscal intervention is needed to prevent the economy from spiraling downward.
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To hear former Vice President Joe Biden tell it, in January, he had perfect knowledge about the Chinese coronavirus, what its mortality would be and all the actions that would be necessary to save American lives.
On July 20 on MSNBC, Biden claimed, “I, all the way back in January, warned him this pandemic was coming. I talked about what we needed to do,” referring to President Trump and a Jan. 27 oped he wrote on the virus.
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Governor Ralph Northam criticized President Donald Trump’s statement preceding his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M. Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday asked the state’s Supreme Court for clarification that its recent order overturning her emergency powers does not take effect until October 30.
The ruling, mandated October 2, struck down the statute under which Whitmer had been issuing coronavirus emergency orders, nullifying the orders and saying that their issuance had been unconstitutional.
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Ohio bucked the trend shown in a new report that compared state’s COVID-19 restrictions and unemployment rate.
Ohio ranked 16th in the nation for fewest restrictions but ranked 39th in unemployment ranking, according updated rankings released Tuesday by WalletHub, a personal-finance website. Not surprisingly, states with the fewest COVID-19 restrictions had lower unemployment rates than states with more.
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Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Robert Gordon on Monday issued an Emergency Order under a 1978 law restricting gathering sizes, requiring face coverings in public spaces and enacting limitations on bars.
The order is effective immediately and remains in effect through Oct. 30.
The order doesn’t lean on the rule Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has used to issue emergency orders that the Michigan Supreme Court invalidated on Friday.
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The Virginia government will reportedly have spent over $1.7 million for the COVID-19 exposure reporting app COVIDWISE, which 13.5% of cell phone users have downloaded. Approximately $1.5 million was spent on marketing alone.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and SpringML Inc. received $229,000 in CARES federal emergency funding to co-develop and launch COVIDWISE. The app allows users to upload their positive test results, which allows other users to receive exposure notifications. Users will only be notified if they have been within a 6 foot vicinity for over 15 minutes.
President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he was feeling good and would soon be able to leave Walter Reed Medical Center, left many in the Resistance media in angry, sputtering convulsions.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M,” Trump tweeted Monday afternoon. “Feeling really good!”
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In an appearance of CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appeared to “mask-shame” President Trump, saying that the Chief executive’s diagnosis of the potentially deadly disease serves as a “cautionary tale” for people who are reluctant to wear masks.
DeWine, a fairly frequent guest on the news program told host Jake Tapper that “this should be kind of an alert to everybody that anybody can get the virus, even president of the United States can get the virus.”
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Guatemala says it will detain and return a migrant caravan of around 2,000 that entered the country from Honduras on Thursday, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei vowed the caravan would be sent back to Honduras over concerns about coronavirus, the AP reported. The caravan overpowered Guatemalan border guards who reportedly made little attempt to control the situation, according to the AP.
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President Donald Trump briefly left the hospital Sunday in his car to wave to supporters gathered outside.
The president’s visit came shortly after he promised his supporters “a surprise” in a video posted a video on social media.
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Nearly 20,000 Amazon staff members have either tested positive for the coronavirus or were presumed positive between March and September, the company announced Thursday.
Amazon said 19,816 staff members tested positive for the virus or were presumed positive, according to a company blog post.
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Yesterday, President Trump announced via Twitter that his assistant Hope Hicks tested COVID positive. He then appeared on Sean Hannity’s show to discuss the campaign and debate. Not too long after that, the president tweeted that he and his wife, Melania, both tested positive for COVID-19.
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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tweeted Saturday that he’s checked himself into a hospital, hours after he announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Christie said that after consulting with his doctors, he went to Morristown Medical Center on Saturday afternoon. He said he’s only experiencing mild symptoms.
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“I think I’ll be back soon,” President Trump said Saturday evening in a four-minute video from Walter Reed Medical Center, where the president is being treated for COVID-19.
Seated at a desk flanked by flags, the president offered words of guarded confidence, optimism and reassurance — about his own heath and the state of the larger national and international battle against the global pandemic.
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The Daily Caller reports, New York City could see up to half its restaurants and bars close permanently in the next six months because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new audit released Thursday from the New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
“New York City’s bars and restaurants are the lifeblood of our neighborhoods. The industry is challenging under the best of circumstances and many eateries operate on tight margins. Now they face an unprecedented upheaval that may cause many establishments to close forever,” DiNapoli said, according to an official statement.
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The positive test results keep coming for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL’s first outbreak of COVID-19.
If the positive results don’t stop, the Titans’ next game, against Buffalo (3-0) on Oct. 11, could be at risk, forcing the NFL into even more rearranging of the schedule.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has tested negative for coronavirus, following President Donald Trump’s announcement that both he and First Lady Melania Trump were positive for the virus.
Both Joe and his wife, Jill Biden, have not been infected by COVID-19, according to a Friday afternoon tweet from the candidate.
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An all new LIVE STREAM of War Room: Pandemic starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday.
Former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon began the daily War Room: Pandemic radio show and podcast on January 25, when news of the virus was just beginning to leak out of China around the Lunar New Year. Bannon and co-hosts bring listeners exclusive analysis and breaking updates from top medical, public health, economic, national security, supply chain and geopolitical experts weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon ET.
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Two high profile Obama flunkies, and countless other Democrats have allowed their masks to slip, exposing their hateful and deranged characters in the wake of news that the president and first lady tested positive for COVID-19.
Ironically, the former Obama staffers—both of whom specialize in strategic communications—deleted their tweets.
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The editor-in-chief of a Chinese state-run media outlet said in a tweet Friday that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump “paid the price” for downplaying the coronavirus pandemic after both tested positive.
“President Donald Trump and the first lady have paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19. The news shows the severity of the US’ pandemic situation,” Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said in a Twitter post on Friday.
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Welcome to the Saturday edition of our daily Virginia Trump campaign update! We will provide our readers with daily updates on the Trump Virginia campaign from today to November 3 (and after…if need be!).
It’s officially 31 days until the election on November 3 – and 28 days until early voting in Virginia closes. The deadline to register to vote in time for the 2020 election is October 13.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Wednesday evening signed Executive Order 2020-191, tweaking long-term care rules and applying some recommendations from the Michigan Nursing Homes COVID-19 Preparedness Task Force.
The order evolves from Whitmer’s old long-term care strategy of 21 Regional Hubs to a “second generation” of care called Care and Recovery Centers (CRC) dedicated to isolating COVID-19 residents.
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