| Biden, Trump go for broke in Pennsylvania as the campaign comes to a close Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:28 PM PST  The president spent all day Saturday in the state while both members of the Democratic ticket will be holding events there throughout Monday.
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| 3 Kansas teens were shot after a man thought he'd found the people responsible for stealing his Trump campaign lawn signs Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:20 PM PST  A man believed his signs had been stolen from his property and approached people nearby who he believed were responsible, police told local news.
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| Supreme Court throws out First Amendment ruling against Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson Posted: 02 Nov 2020 07:21 AM PST |
| Florida principal who refused to say Holocaust was a fact is fired a second time Posted: 02 Nov 2020 10:32 AM PST  The former Florida high school principal who made national headlines last year for refusing to say the Holocaust was a "factual, historical event" has been fired again, about a month after he was rehired.
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| Bricks thrown at police, Northwestern University students pepper-sprayed in off-campus clash as protesters again call on university to defund its police Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:53 PM PST  EVANSTON, Ill. — After leaving campus, protesters from Northwestern University who were demonstrating Saturday night clashed with Evanston authorities, and a school spokesman said both students and officers reported dangerous conditions from attacks by the other side. Jon Yates, a spokesman with the university, said he had been in contact with the department and was told officers used pepper ...
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| Results of Arizona Proposition 207 to legalize marijuana for adults over 21 Posted: 02 Nov 2020 08:14 AM PST  The proposition would legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21 and create a system to expunge the legal records of prior marijuana offenses.
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| Grizzly bear killed after "surprise" attack on father and son Posted: 02 Nov 2020 08:40 AM PST  The hunters "sustained significant injuries" before they shot and killed the bear, officials said.
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| America braces for election violence with shops boarded up and National Guard on standby Posted: 02 Nov 2020 01:11 PM PST  Cities across the United States were battening down the hatches as they prepared for potential riots in the wake of the election on Tuesday. With the country more bitterly divided than at any time since the Vietnam War in the 1970s it was feared a disputed result could set off nationwide clashes. In Washington businesses near the White House, including hotels, banks and restaurants, boarded up their windows, as did those in iconic New York locations including Times Square and Fifth Avenue. Alex Provenzano, who owns a nail salon two blocks from the White House, said it was "pretty scary," adding: "I hope for the best, but the people are very stressed out." Officials were removing bins and bicycle stands so they couldn't be used as projectiles. The secret service is to erect a "non-scalable" fence around the entire White House perimeter. A National Park Service spokesman said the fence was required due to the "unique security requirements with the upcoming presidential election" and the "need to quickly de-escalate potentially violent encounters". Students at George Washington University in the capital were told to hunker down. An email sent to students by the university said: "We suggest preparing for the Election Day period as you would for a hurricane or a snowstorm that would prevent you from going outside for several days to grab food or order takeout."
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| Vanessa Bryant and daughters celebrate 1st Halloween since death of Kobe and Gianna Posted: 01 Nov 2020 11:52 AM PST  The Bryant family rocked two different family costumes in honor of the big day.
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| Biden leads Trump, but it's much closer in battleground states Posted: 02 Nov 2020 05:25 AM PST  First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
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| Fact check: No evidence Kamala Harris ever said 'looters are just feeding their hungry kids' Posted: 02 Nov 2020 03:05 PM PST  While Sen. Kamala Harris has previously repeatedly condemned looting, viral posts falsely claim she said "looters are just feeding their hungry kids."
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| Clip showing Biden naming the wrong state at a rally is fake Posted: 02 Nov 2020 04:26 AM PST  It's an awkward moment when a presidential candidate greets the audience at a rally and names the wrong state. Fortunately for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, that didn't happen to him this week, despite a widely shared video that appears to show him saying "Hello, Minnesota" to a crowd in Florida.
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| The 10 Best Fall and Winter Purchases For Staying At Home Posted: 02 Nov 2020 03:16 PM PST |
| Melania Trump made her staff work from home and wear face masks, and was shocked seeing her husband's aides often go without them, report says Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:57 AM PST  The first lady's actions during the pandemic, according to Bloomberg, differed greatly from her husband's, which were to downplay the health crisis.
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| Cold air allergy nearly kills man stepping out of shower in Colorado, study says Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:35 PM PST  The 34-year-old was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed on the bathroom floor
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| White House lashes out at Fauci for 'making political leanings known' ahead of election Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:01 AM PST  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert and White House Coronavirus Task Force member, criticized the Trump administration's recent handling of the pandemic in an interview with The Washington Post published Saturday evening, and the White House was less than thrilled.Fauci said the U.S. "could not be positioned more poorly" heading into the fall and winter, adding that the task force meets less frequently and he and Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force's coordinator, no longer have regular access to the president. Meanwhile, he said, Trump is more focused on re-opening the economy while "the public health aspect of the task force has diminished greatly." Fauci admitted he has "real problems" with Trump's now-favored pandemic adviser, neuroradiologist Scott Atlas, whom he described as a "smart guy who's talking about things that I believe he doesn't have any real insight or knowledge or experience in."On the other hand, Fauci said Trump's Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his campaign are taking the virus "seriously from a public health perspective."In response, the White House called Fauci's comments "unacceptable," taking particular issue with the fact that they were made shortly before Tuesday's Election Day. White House spokesman Judd Deere said Fauci "has a duty to express concerns or push for a change in strategy, but he's not done that, instead choosing to criticize the president in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the president's opponent — exactly what the American people have come to expect from The Swamp." Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com COVID-19 keeps proving everyone wrong Is this the year the New South turns blue? Democrats' first priority
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| Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm Posted: 01 Nov 2020 11:38 AM PST  Goni weakens from a super typhoon but still brings "catastrophic" winds and torrential rain to Luzon.
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| Report: South Dakota official distracted before fatal crash Posted: 02 Nov 2020 09:31 AM PST  South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was distracted before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Public Safety Craig Price said Monday. Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. 12 when Ravnsborg's 2011 Ford Taurus hit him. Price did not describe what led Ravnsborg to become distracted and he did not respond to questions about what the distraction was.
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| Amazon is celebrating Alexa's birthday with a huge sale on Alexa devices Posted: 02 Nov 2020 10:02 AM PST  These Alexa devices are massively discounted right now as part of Amazon's Alexa birthday celebration—get the details.
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| 'I'm surprised I was not caught,' says South Korea's most notorious serial killer in court hearing Posted: 02 Nov 2020 04:17 AM PST  A man who has confessed to being one of South Korea's most prolific serial killers has told a court in the city of Suwon that he was surprised he had not been not caught earlier. Lee Chun-jae, 57, was appearing in court on Monday for the retrial of a man who was wrongly convicted of one of Lee's killings, serving 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in 1988. The man, Yoon Sung-yeo, was released in 2008 but is appealing to have his conviction quashed. He alleges - and police have admitted - that he was coerced into making a false confession in the death of the girl as police struggled to identify the perpetrator of a series of killings attributed to "the Hwaseong Strangler." Lee told the court that he murdered 14 women and girls around the city of Hwaseong between 1986 and 1991, Yonhap News reported. All the victims were discovered bound, gagged, raped and, in most cases, strangled with an item of their own clothing, usually their underwear. His first victim was 71 years old and two other victims were 14.
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| U.S. Supreme Court lets inmate confined to filthy prison cells sue guards Posted: 02 Nov 2020 07:13 AM PST  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a Texas inmate to pursue his claim against prison officials that his civil rights were violated by being locked up in cells with extremely filthy conditions. The justices, in an unsigned opinion, set aside a lower court ruling that had found that prison officials were protected under a legal defense called qualified immunity from the claim in inmate Trent Taylor's lawsuit accusing them of violating the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision.
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| 3 dead after plane that took off in North Carolina crashed in New York, officials say Posted: 02 Nov 2020 10:42 AM PST  The wreckage was found hours after the aircraft went missing.
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| Sanders Urges ‘Squad’ to ‘Make Sure Biden Becomes the Most Progressive President Since FDR’ Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:01 PM PST  Senator Bernie Sanders said in an interview with Democratic congresswomen that progressives must work to ensure Joe Biden becomes the most progressive president in decades, emphasizing that "we are not giving up on our agenda.""We understand that electing Biden is not the end all, it is the beginning," Sanders said in an interview with the four freshman progressive congresswomen known as the "Squad," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar."Our first task, we've got to defeat the worst president in the modern history of this country and number two, we organize our people to make sure that Biden becomes the most progressive president since FDR," the independent senator from Vermont continued.> Some people ask what an old Jewish white guy has in common with young women of color like @AOC, @AyannaPressley, @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib.> > We understand each other. We come from working class backgrounds. And we're going to go forward together. pic.twitter.com/bANr9KbkmA> > -- Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 31, 2020Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, applauded the congresswomen and said that their work pushing for the Democratic Party to embrace more progressive policies is evident in the evolution of Biden's platform."I think as a result of the work that all of you have done, Biden's proposals in this campaign are a lot stronger than they were in the primary," Sanders said. "Do they go as far as we would want? No they don't."Sanders cited Biden's health care plan, saying that while Biden's proposals are a step in the right direction, the "only way" every individual will ultimately have access to quality, affordable health care is through Medicare for All.Sanders vowed that progressives in Congress would also continue to advance their agenda on criminal justice, immigration, and the multi-trillion dollar Green New Deal because "we're have got to be bolder than ever before in tackling climate change."He also took a shot at President Trump during the interview, saying that unlike the president, Biden "does not conceive of himself as a dictator."Sanders was the runner up in the last two Democratic presidential primaries, losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and again to Biden earlier this year. He is rumored to have expressed interest in the position of Secretary of Labor in a future Biden cabinet.
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| Typhoon Goni, the most powerful storm of 2020, hit the Philippines and killed 20 people Posted: 02 Nov 2020 10:50 AM PST  At one point, Super Typhoon Goni had maximum sustained winds of 195 miles per hour. It has moved west of the Philippines.
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| Ivory Coast opposition vows to form transition government Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:00 AM PST  Ivory Coast's major opposition parties vowed Monday to create their own transitional government, insisting that President Alassane Ouattara's mandate to lead the country is now over even as partial results from the election showed him headed toward a controversial third term. The move was expected to further escalate tensions between the opposition leaders who boycotted Saturday's presidential election and those loyal to the West African nation's incumbent leader of nearly a decade. Pascal Affi N'Guessan, one of the top opposition candidates who later boycotted the vote, said late Monday that Henri Konan Bedie, the country's 86-year-old former president, would head up a council of transition.
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| Biden is leading in Minnesota, many states in the Midwest: Amy Klobuchar Posted: 01 Nov 2020 08:09 AM PST  Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar joins Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.'
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| Authorities found 27 missing children in Virginia. Here's what we know about the operation. Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:48 PM PST  While the cases were announced together as part of a larger operation, there is no suspected criminal enterprise linking the cases, officials say.
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| Syrian refugee's joy at admission to Georgetown University goes viral Posted: 02 Nov 2020 07:42 AM PST  His shouts of joy echo from the mountains as the young Syrian refugee pumps his fists in the air on a roadside in Norway. "I made it into Georgetown!" Omar Alshogre exclaims in disbelief after hearing he has been accepted to study at the prestigious Washington DC University. The video lasts just nine seconds, shared to Mr Alshogre's Twitter page, but his joy is so contagious it has been viewed over 100,000 times in the past 24 hours. "Maybe because I'm happy and people need to see someone who is happy and laughing for a moment," Mr Alshogre says. by way of explanation.
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| After man saves girl from drowning, family shows appreciation by helping pay for his wedding Posted: 01 Nov 2020 10:24 PM PST  Samantha Whiting wanted to show her appreciation for the man who saved her daughter this summer when she was caught in a riptide, and although she only knew his first name and where he lived, Whiting was determined to track him down.The incident occurred in August, when Whiting and her 10-year-old daughter, Hayley, were at the beach in Monterey, California. Samantha went into the water to try to save her daughter, but was struggling. Bystander Kevin Cozzi heard their screams, and raced into the waves to help. He was able to get Hayley to safety, with some assistance from a lifeguard. "He saved us," Samantha told ABC30. "If it wasn't for him coming to grab her from me, there's no way we both would have made it."The Whitings only learned Kevin's first name and that he lived in Merced, California. They were visiting Monterey, and when they returned to their home in Texas, the family decided to find Cozzi so they could once again let him know how grateful they were for his help. "He's one of the biggest heroes I've ever met," Hayley said. Last week, Samantha made a post on the Facebook group Merced Neighborhood Watch, and within hours, she was talking to Cozzi.Cozzi and his fiancée had to postpone their wedding because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the Whitings decided to launch a GoFundMe to help them have the wedding of their dreams. Both Samantha and Hayley have been invited to the wedding, set for next fall, and look forward to once again thanking Cozzi in person. He is thankful for their fundraiser, but told ABC30, "That girl being saved was enough for me."More stories from theweek.com COVID-19 keeps proving everyone wrong Is this the year the New South turns blue? Democrats' first priority
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| Facebook reportedly exempted Trump's family and allies from its misinformation rules to avoid accusations of anti-conservative bias Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:23 AM PST  Sources told The Washington Post that Facebook removed a strike against Donald Trump Jr.'s Instagram account, one of many exemptions for Trump's family.
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| Freakish ‘snake’ found in Virginia is large invasive species of worm, experts say Posted: 02 Nov 2020 11:28 AM PST  It has a half-moon shaped head and can grow to a foot, experts say.
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| Vermont 2020 presidential election results Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:56 AM PST  The state has three electoral votes and is not expected to be competitive.
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| France to ban Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves Posted: 02 Nov 2020 01:08 PM PST  France plans to ban a Turkish ultra-nationalist group known as the Grey Wolves, the interior minister said Monday, in a move that risks further straining already tense relations with Ankara.
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| Bail for Illinois teen charged in Kenosha killings set at $2 million Posted: 02 Nov 2020 01:06 PM PST  It was the first court appearance in Wisconsin for Kyle Rittenhouse since he was ordered extradited from Illinois on Friday. Presiding over the hearing, Kenosha County Commissioner Loren Keating said that a "very significant cash bond is necessary to assure this defendant's appearance in court, as the court does believe that he is a flight risk." Rittenhouse's attorney, Mark Richards, argued for lower bail, saying that his client's unsuccessful attempt to turn himself in to Kenosha police during the street disturbances where the killings took place, suggest he would not flee.
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| Buying a Gun Ahead of the Election Won't Make You More Powerful. Here's What Americans Should Do to Deal With Crisis Instead Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:02 PM PST  The President of the United States has undermined confidence in the electoral system and refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. The reality is that those guns are more likely to be used by us to commit suicide (in the U.S. nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths are due to suicide, and access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide); to hurt the people we love when arguments get out of hand (more than half of women killed by an intimate partner are killed with a gun, and access to a gun makes it five times more likely a domestic abuser will kill his female victim); to kill our children (firearms are a leading cause of death for children and teens), or to be raised against the rare assailant only for us to miss or hit unintended targets.
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| 1st Air Force Pilot Reaches 1,000-Hour Milestone in F-35A Joint Strike Fighter Posted: 02 Nov 2020 08:36 AM PST |
| John Oliver explains why William Barr could be the most dangerous part of a 2nd Trump term Posted: 02 Nov 2020 02:12 AM PST  Since becoming U.S. attorney general, William Barr "has been in the news constantly, and almost never for good reasons," John Oliver said on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. "In just the past few months, he has, among other things, sown distrust in mail-in voting and also dismissed public health measures in the middle of a pandemic, in the grossest possible way."Strikingly, when President Trump nominated Barr 18 months ago, "the news was basically greeted with relief" there would finally be an "adult in the room," Oliver said. "Look, not only is being an adult an absurdly low bar to set for the highest levels of government, but it also implies that the main problem with Trump is that he is childish. And I know that it makes for a fun balloon now and again, but at its core, 'I wish that white nationalist with an authoritarian streak would act his age' is sort of missing the point here."It's also "worth remembering, some adults are a--holes, and Barr is very much one of them," Oliver said. "But he is also very much more: He is a driven, deeply moralistic man with extreme views on executive power, actually making him one of the more dangerous figures in the Trump administration -- which I know is saying something. But if Trump gets a second term, Barr is only going to be more dangerous going forward." He ran through Barr's lifelong "veneration of authority," fervent belief "in something known as the unitary executive theory," and why he could only "fully test his belief that the president answers to absolutely nobody" when Trump was elected."And while Trump has been grumbling lately that Barr should have done more to punish his political enemies, when it comes to playing defense for Trump, Barr has been relentless," Oliver said. Trump may be "Barr's dream president, someone who is the ideal vessel for Barr's decades-long pursuit of a unitary executive," and if they get a second term to pursue their "case that a moral order must be imposed, and by force," it will be "very, very dangerous" for America. Because "Barr isn't just fighting to give the president power on principle, he wants to give this president power so he will use it against the people that Barr thinks are ruining society," he said. There's a bit of NSFW language. Watch below. More stories from theweek.com COVID-19 keeps proving everyone wrong Is this the year the New South turns blue? Democrats' first priority
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| 3 of the men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor were regulars at 'boogaloo' events and anti-lockdown protests: Report Posted: 02 Nov 2020 08:43 AM PST  Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, and Daniel Harris were active anti-lockdown protesters, according to analysis of footage and image by The Washington Post.
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| 8th-grade boy first child to die of COVID-19 in Missouri, data show Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:47 AM PST  He last attended school on Oct. 22, the school district said.
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| Mini November heat wave will send temps soaring Posted: 02 Nov 2020 09:31 AM PST  A major warmup is on the way for the Midwest and northeastern United States following a dose of winter weather that suppressed temperatures 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit below average on Monday. Forecasters say the pattern switch will soon allow temperatures to rebound by 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit from chilly early-week levels. Mother Nature is about to give anyone who is not yet ready for the onset of winter a little throwback to early fall in the form of a mini November heat wave. The upcoming pleasant weather pattern will allow people more time to rake leaves and prep homes and vehicles for winter - and even challenge a high-temperature record or two in places. On the other hand, winter lovers may need to put freshly-waxed skis off to the side for a couple more weeks. The recent blast of wintry weather can be blamed on the jet stream, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. A sharp southward dip in the jet stream allowed cold air to empty southward from Canada and spill across the Great Lakes and Northeast states in two waves from Friday through Monday. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Snow coats the leaves on a tree in the Public Garden, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) That jet stream will begin to retreat over the Northeast on Election Day. By then, temperatures will already be on the rebound in the Midwest and parts of the central Appalachians. During the middle and latter part of this week, the jet stream will flatten out and take on a more west to east configuration across the northern tier of the nation. During early November, the jet is usually set up from west to east, but also hundreds of miles farther to the south than where it is positioned in October. "When the jet stream is forecast to be near the Canada border, big southward intrusions of cold air are unlikely and warmth is able to expand northward from the Southern states," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson. On Wednesday, highs are forecast to range from the middle 60s in Minneapolis and near 50 in Boston to the middle 60s in Chicago and Washington, D.C. The warmup will become even more significant across the Central and Eastern states by next weekend as the jet stream is projected to retreat even farther to the north. "The setup for the weekend will allow very warm air for early November to build over much of the Central and Eastern states and even into part of south-central and southeastern Canada," Anderson said. Afternoon temperatures may approach 70 in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and may climb well into the 60s in New York City and Boston on Saturday. Normal highs are in the mid-50s in Chicago and Boston, the low 60s in D.C., and the upper 50s in New York City during early November. The high temperature could even challenge the record daily high of 72 set back in 1874 in Minneapolis, where normal highs this time of year are around 50. The unusual warmth will arrive after Minneapolis residents experienced a taste of winter. The city picked up 9.3 inches of snowfall in late October, a month that normally brings just 0.6 of an inch. For the month of October, the city picked up 1,550% of normal snowfall. Temperatures will reach even higher across areas farther to the south. In the South Central and Southeastern states, highs in the 70s will be widespread with temperatures topping out near 80 degrees along the Gulf Coast. Atlanta's normal highs are in the upper 60s and New Orlean's average highs for early November are in the mid-70s. It is possible that colder air and perhaps a return to winterlike conditions may transpire later next weekend to the second week of November over parts of the Central states, but warmth may hold on for several more days in the East during the second week of November. Record high temperatures in the Northeast are generally in the 70s over the region with some records in the lower 80s around the Chesapeake Bay. It may be possible for some record highs to be challenged in the Northeast next week. As warmth congregates in the East next week, activity in the tropics may warrant some concern for part of the Southeastern states either due to Eta or a spinoff off Eta. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Republican Karen Handel looks to regain House seat from incumbent Rep. Lucy McBath in Georgia's 6th Congressional District Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:05 PM PST  After defeating Jon Ossoff in the most expensive House race in US history, in 2018, Karen Handel is attempting to defeat Lucy McBath.
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| Baba ka Dhaba: Eatery owner angry with blogger who made him famous Posted: 02 Nov 2020 12:05 AM PST  The owner says the blogger made him a social media celebrity to earn money.
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| Russia's 'Sausage King' killed with a crossbow in sauna outside Moscow Posted: 02 Nov 2020 04:54 AM PST  Several intruders broke into a sauna at the home of a Russian meat tycoon known as the "Sausage King" outside Moscow early on Monday, tied him and a woman up and demanded money before killing him with a crossbow. The woman managed to escape the attack in the Moscow region and alert the police but the businessman was dead when officers arrived at the scene, said the Investigative Committee, which positions itself as a Russian version of the F.B.I. The agency did not name the deceased man in its statement, but REN TV and other Russian media identified him as Vladimir Marugov, owner of the "Ozyorsky sausages" and "Meat Empire" sausage factories.
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| Czech Republic Goes Full Trump With COVID, Gets Crushed by Second Wave Posted: 02 Nov 2020 01:55 AM PST  PRAGUE—As COVID-19 ravaged Europe this past spring, the Czech Republic was, without a doubt, the poster child for how to successfully beat the virus. With its strict national mask mandate and early shutdown, it recorded a mere 300 deaths in the first wave even as its neighbors recorded tens of thousands of virus fatalities.Months later, it is now a case study in how to be recklessly cavalier toward the deadly disease.By the beginning of October, the virus struck back in full force and Czech authorities recorded the highest number of deaths per 100,000 in the entire world. In one week, this country of 10.6 million lost almost 700 people to COVID-19. Hospitalizations shot up from a few hundred in September to a staggering 7,200 in the second half of this month.'Urban Warfare' as Europe's Second Wave Spins Out of ControlThe Czech government is now scrambling. After officials ordered the re-closure of restaurants and schools on Oct. 14, they also decided to set up two field hospitals—in Prague and in Brno, the second largest town in the country—designed exclusively for potential COVID-19 patients with a capacity of 800 beds. Still, fearing it might not be enough, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš declared a nightly curfew that went into effect on Wednesday, and is mulling a second lockdown.The new wave of restrictions was met with concern, displeasure and anger. There have even been demonstrations in downtown Prague; in one case, the police had to disperse the crowd of a few hundred with tear gas. Police choppers hung high above in the sky monitoring the strife. Some in the crowd held signs like "Stop COVID Hoax" or "Masks=Muzzle."Otherwise the streets of the capital are largely deserted and quiet, including Wenceslas Square where the famous Velvet Revolution protests took place in 1989 which led to the fall of the Communist regime. On the first day before the curfew, the square was eerily empty.* * *The country didn't have to find itself in this alarming situation, epidemiologists say. Some warned the government for weeks and months on end. Instead, the officials declared early in the summer a premature victory and people dropped all precautions, feeling relieved and joyous.Evolutionary biologist Jaroslav Flegr didn't share the collective giddiness after the country managed to get the disease under control during the first wave in the spring. He knew that the virus was still lurking in society and would return with lethal force come autumn. Walking the streets of Prague during the summer, the biologist was in shock at what he was seeing. No one was wearing a mask, people swarmed popular beer gardens and disregarded social distancing, and many businesses didn't have hand sanitizers available anymore. There was even a massive feast on the famous Charles Bridge at the end of June where 2,000 people sat at long tables, munching on roasted geese, sandwiches and cakes. The guests made champagne toasts celebrating "the end of the virus."Flegr, who teaches epidemiology at Charles University (one of the oldest universities in the world), was certain that the seemingly virus-free Czech Republic would turn into a COVID-19 nightmare. So started to sound alarm bells in the form of blistering critiques delivered on his blog and Facebook page, and during television interviews and debates.But not many in the government heeded Flegr's warnings. He was widely dismissed and ignored. There was no appetite for going back to the spring's severe restrictions, which had caused substantial damage to the Czech economy, disrupted countless careers and halted a favorite pastime of many Czechs—beer drinking in the company of friends. One time, a member of the country's COVID Task Force walked out on Flegr during a televised debate, citing what he claimed were Flegr's tendencies to spook the population for no reason.Flegr's arguments about a COVID-19 resurgence were unpopular. They also turned out to be right. His predictions about skyrocketing infection rates, followed by rising hospitalizations and deaths, have proven accurate."The government says we will make it—but the harsh truth is that, in the short run, we won't," Flegr told me. "And it didn't have to be this way. So many people will die needlessly."One of the few government officials to heed Flegr, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Adam Vojtěch, was worried over the summer too. Vojtěch suggested in mid-August that Czechs should put their masks back on while in indoor spaces like stores, schools, restaurants and barbershops. But he was sharply rebuked by the Prime Minister Babiš. A month later Vojtěch was removed from office.* * *The Czech Republic was so successful at containing the first wave that it's led some to doubt the threat was ever real. Between March and May, the country recorded on average "only" 100 cases per day and the death toll reached just 300, a little above the level of seasonal flu casualties. (One mind-blowing number here: the country's positive rate among those tested fell to 0.5 percent in May. Now, we are at 32 percent—actually, yesterday it was 34 percent.)The Czech Republic was also one of the first countries to close its borders and shut the economy down back in March. The government mandated a two-and-half-month-long national mask-wearing rule. People complied and the country halted the spread of the virus, earning acclaim all across the European Union."The Czech Republic has become the victim of its own success but there was also a sudden lack of government coordination effort. It all fizzled out," states Ruth Tachezy, a molecular and tumor virologist at the prestigious research institute BIOCEV, located in the outskirts of Prague.Tachezy fears that people might not be willing to restrict their lives again given the fact that the country sailed through the first wave unscathed. She believes that many people now take disease as something benign and practically nonexistent."It is horrific to me that we had to find ourselves in the current situation so people would start behaving responsibly again. I hope they will, especially now when they see the rise in the death cases," she told me.* * *Inside the special COVID Unit in a hospital in the northern town of Litoměřice, the team of 12 doctors and nurses is visibly overstretched. Back in March they had just a dozen patients to take care of; now the unit is overflowing with sick people in desperate need for oxygen.Conditions have gotten so bad in recent days that two additional units had to be open to meet high demand. Currently there are 100 COVID-19 patients altogether in this unit, a steep increase from a few dozen the hospital treated over three months in the spring."Back then it was just a rehearsal for us. Now, it is a hundred times worse. In the spring most of the people could breathe on their own and spent a few days here. This time around they need oxygen and stay for weeks," says Iva Burešová, a nurse.One more thing has changed: there is no public display of solidarity with the first responders and health-care workers anymore like in the spring. No applause is resonating from balconies during these dark, anxious days."It feels like people have forgotten about us and those who claim that the virus is a hoax should come to our hospital to see it with their own eyes. Unfortunately, many don't believe that the virus is real. But people do die all around us these days," says nurse Burešová who has been transferred from the gynecology department to ease the workload at the COVID Unit.She is exhausted and also worried about what the next day might bring. The Czech Republic has a high rate of infected doctors, nurses and hospital attendants. According to the government figures, every 13th health-care worker has caught the virus."I am not that old but I do fear that my parents and my boyfriend can catch it from me in case I get it," says this 24-year-old nurse who has been assigned to the first floor filled with the most severe cases.Here all 20 patients are hooked up to oxygen, and some needed to be intubated. The unit is filled with a cacophony of sounds. Machine beeping, oxygen hissing, pressure gauges wheezing and then there is an occasional sharp sound of a cardiac monitor alerting the professionals dressed in protective gear that a patient is in crisis. In the last two weeks, seven people have died in this unit alone."It is often so sudden. In one moment, you talk to a patient, draw his blood and in another you have to try to resuscitate him and see him dying," notes Burešová who is worried that the worst is yet to come.* * *The Czech government is too late to the crisis, laments biologist Flegr, who is an outspoken critic of Babiš. The expert labels the government attitude under Babiš' leadership as self-congratulatory, reckless and politically motivated. Flegr believes Babiš projected a rosy picture on COVID-19 in order to win elections in the Senate and local legislatures held in early October. That's why he created a false impression that the virus was a thing of the past and would not come back, says Flegr. "If we are governed by an immoral leader in a critical situation," he notes, "it will come back to haunt us and could cause us tens of thousands of lives."Still, it is easy to find Czechs who are revolting against the new set of government measures. "I don't understand why strong and healthy people should be held captive in their houses. Our parents fought against the communist dictatorial government in the past and here we go again," fumes Lukáš Stockl, who works in marketing.Switzerland's Yodelers Created One of Europe's Worst COVID Hot SpotsHe has recently moved with his wife and two of their young children into an ancient Prague neighborhood on the left bank of the Vltava river that runs through the metropolis. Before COVID-19, he could never have afforded an apartment in this expensive area, which is mostly designed to attract rich tourists. But tourist traffic has stopped due to the pandemic, so some Czechs took advantage of the decline in the steep prices. Stockl found a new home with a stunning view of the Charles Bridge at a relatively inexpensive price.Contemplating the famous bridge shrouded in the fall mist from his bedroom window, Stockl ponders a tough ethical question: how far should society as a whole go to save just a fraction of its citizens? "Millions will suffer and their lives will be destroyed so a few could live?" he asks himself.But Flegr hotly disputes people like Stockl. "If you see someone drowning in a lake, what is your impulse? You go and save the man, right? But the reality is that people can't imagine seeing thousands drowning," argues the expert.Flegr is seen among his colleagues as flamboyant and combative—he has something of a reputation in the science world, and holds the satiric Ig Nobel Prize, awarded by Harvard for trivial achievements in scientific research (in Flegr's case, for a controversial study on the cat parasite toxoplasma gondii)—but most of his fellow researchers acknowledge that his once "outrageous" coronavirus prognosis was right on the money. While his relationship with some government and medical experts is acrimonious, others publicly regret his absence from the country's COVID-19 task force. "We should have listened to Flegr," said Vladimír Zaorálek, the Secretary for Educational and Art Affairs."I think that [Flegr] was right to scare people into action," asserts virologist Tachezy. "The government eased the restrictions too early and when the second wave came, they were asleep at the switch."The only way out now is lockdown," she concludes.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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