Coronavirus Watch: A report on voting rights that no one will see
A commission just spent months analyzing threats to minority voting rights during the coronavirus pandemic.
But no one will see the final report. Conservative commissioners recently appointed by President Donald Trump torpedoed it.
It's Thursday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here is the most significant news of the day, as of 12 p.m. ET:
- A vaccine may not be available until next year, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Wednesday. During a Senate panel, Redfield said that face masks are "the most important, powerful public health tool we have" — possibly even more effective than a vaccine.
- President Donald Trump later contradicted Redfield's comments and said, "I believe he was confused" when he said a vaccine might not be widely available until next year and that face masks are a more effective way of fighting the disease.
- The House is poised to pass a measure Thursday condemning anti-Asian bigotry and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The majority of children, teens and young adults who've died from COVID-19 are Hispanic, Black or Native American, a new report found.
- Attorney General William Barr drew criticism after calling lockdown measures aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 the worst infringement on civil liberties other than slavery.
- India has confirmed another record jump in cases, logging 97,894 cases in the past 24 hours and 1,132 more deaths.
- More than 790,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance for the first time last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. And in a little more than six months, over 56 million workers have filed for benefits.
Today's numbers: New case records were set in Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and record numbers of deaths were reported in Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, according to a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Wednesday. The U.S. has reported more than 6.6 million cases and more than 196,000 deaths. Globally, there have been almost 30 million cases and almost 942,000 fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
What do you want to know about the coronavirus? Submit your questions through this form.
As always, thank you for subscribing! We appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network with this important information. Know someone who could benefit from these daily updates? Forward them this email so they can sign up here.
– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck