Coronavirus News Update for Oct. 26 – V.P. Refuses to Quarantine After His Chief of Staff Tests Positive
The number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the United States continues to climb. The country has seen a 40% increase in the number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus over the past month as the number of cases there was about to cross the nine million mark. Over 59,000 new cases were reported on Sunday as were at least 339 new coronavirus-related deaths. Over the past week, there has been an average of 69,814 cases per day, a 32% increase from the average two weeks ago.
Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff and several other top aides tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend.White House officials, however, tried to block news of an outbreak in the vice president’s circle for “privacy” reasons, Mark Meadows, President Trump’s chief of staff, said on the CBS news program “Face the Nation.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Pence continued to make campaign appearances despite guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that called for for people who were exposed to someone with the virus to quarantine for 14 days. Meadows said Pence was an “essential worker and exempt, although the CDC guidance allows exemptions for “critical infrastructure workers.”
The president of Fox News, Jay Wallace, and several anchors at the network were told to quarantine after exposure to someone with the virus on a private flight from New York City to Nashville for the presidential debate there last Thursday.
Meanwhile in Texas, El Paso is asking residents to stay home for two weeks as Covid-19 cases surge there.“Please continue to exercise your right to vote,” said El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, who announced a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
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