Skip to main content

Coronavirus Watch: More stimulus checks? The current proposal doesn't include them. And it's unlikely to pass.

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

It's less than two weeks before Election Day, and coronavirus relief negotiations are dragging on.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on a $500 billion proposal Wednesday, but the bill is unlikely to make it out of the Senate.

The bill would give a federal boost to weekly unemployment benefits, send over $100 billion to schools, and allocate funding for testing and vaccine development. The price tag of that bill is much lower than the roughly $1.8 trillion offered by the White House this month and the $2.2 trillion package Democrats put forward.

It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 12 p.m. ET:

  • The U.S. has seen 300,000 more deaths than in recent years since the pandemic began, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows. COVID-19 was involved in about two-thirds of the excess deaths.
  • A drug long used to treat rheumatoid arthritis showed it can save lives if given to critically ill COVID-19 patients within the first two days of being admitted to an intensive care unit. 
  • Idaho is seeing its largest spike in cases since the pandemic began. In the past two weeks, infections are up 46.5%. The governor's plan urges personal responsibility. 
  • Montana and South Dakota had a record number of deaths in the seven-day period that ended Tuesday while those states and 13 others set records for new cases in a week.
  • Europe reported a new high in the weekly number of cases last week, the World Health Organization says. Russia, Czech Republic and Italy accounted for more than half of new COVID-19 cases in Europe. Ireland on Wednesday became the first E.U. country to return to lockdown amid the slide.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 8.2 million cases and 221,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 40.9 million cases and 1.1 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.

Thank you for subscribing!

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

Facebook Twitter Email