A rapidly rising flood of coronavirus infections engulfed much of the United States on Thursday, setting records for new cases in 20 states, killing nearly 1,158 people and straining the health system’s capacity to keep up with the pandemic.

On Thursday, 116,707 new cases were reported, the second straight record for a single day and a figure that dwarfed the total for any day in the previous worst two periods of the outbreak, in April and July. From Washington state to West Virginia and from Texas to Pennsylvania, the country was awash in record or near-record case counts Thursday.

Illinois reported 9,935 new cases, Iowa registered 4,562 and Oklahoma recorded 2,094 – all single-day highs – as the virus continued to spread across the nation’s midsection and the Plains states.

“In many areas of the country, this pandemic is a runaway train,” said James Lawler, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “We are doubling COVID hospitalizations every two to three weeks in many parts of the Midwest. Think about what that means in a month to six weeks. So, we better find the brakes soon.”

In a nation deeply fractured over whether to reopen the economy or confront the pandemic with tough restrictions, the virus has flourished, experts said, taking advantage of cooler winter months, lower humidity and communities where mitigation measures are less strict or are not being followed.

“The division is itself the big hurdle,” said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama administration. “If we look around the world, the places that have struggled most in controlling the virus are those with the least social cohesion. Fighting the virus requires the notion that we’re all in this together.”

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The Fed signals readiness to do more for economy as virus rages

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low near zero Thursday and signaled its readiness to do more if needed to support an economy under threat from a worsening coronavirus pandemic.

The Fed announced no new actions after its latest policy meeting but left the door open to provide further assistance in the coming months. The central bank again pledged to use its “full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time.” The economy in recent weeks has weakened after mounting a tentative recovery from the deep pandemic recession in early spring.

“I think we have to be humble about where we are,” Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference when asked whether the economy was at risk of enduring a severe setback. “We are very far from saying that we’ve got this and eliminated” the risks.

Several Fed officials have expressed concern that Congress has failed so far to provide further aid for struggling individuals and businesses. But the Fed’s policy statement, issued after a two-day meeting, made no mention of lawmakers’ failure to act.

A multi-trillion-dollar stimulus, enacted in the spring, had helped sustain jobless Americans and ailing businesses but has since expired. The failure of lawmakers to agree on any new rescue package has clouded the future for the unemployed, for small businesses and for the economy as a whole. There is some hope, though, that a logjam can be broken and more economic relief can be enacted during a post-election “lame-duck” session of Congress between now and early January.

“The outlook for the economy is extraordinarily uncertain,” Powell said at the news conference.

The central bank has been buying Treasury and mortgage bonds to hold down long-term borrowing rates to encourage spending. And it has kept its key short-term rate, which influences many corporate and individual loans, near zero. Some economists think the policymakers’ next move will be to expand its bond buying effort, which is intended to boost the economy by lowering longer-term borrowing rates.

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Election judge worked despite COVID-19 diagnosis, then died

O’FALLON, Mo.  — A suburban St. Louis election official who worked at a polling place on Election Day despite a positive test for the coronavirus has now died, raising concerns for the nearly 2,000 people who voted there.

St. Charles County, Missouri, spokeswoman Mary Enger said in a news release Thursday that the person was an election judge supervisor Tuesday at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site in St. Charles, about 25 miles northwest of St. Louis. Enger said the county’s health department and election authority recently learned that the poll worker tested positive Oct. 30 for COVID-19 and was advised to quarantine for 14 days.

“The election judge nevertheless failed to follow the advice” and worked throughout the day on Tuesday, Enger said. “Authorities have informed the County that this individual has died, although a cause of death has not been given at this time.”

No details about the worker, including his or her age or gender, were released.

Contact tracing has started and county health officials have contacted the other nine election workers at the site, who were advised to be tested for the virus, Enger said. The infected poll worker’s duties did not “typically” include handling iPads, or having close contact with the 1,858 voters such as taking voter identification, Enger said.

County officials urged anyone who was at the precinct on Election Day to watch closely for symptoms and call a hotline number if they have questions.

St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr said election workers were required to wear masks or face shields, and Plexiglas barriers separated workers from voters.

It’s not clear when the county decided to require workers to wear masks. In September, the election authority drew criticism for an email urging poll workers who had signed up for the November election to “act surprised” if voters asked why they weren’t wearing masks.

Swedish PM self-isolates as nation passes grim threshold

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Sweden’s prime minister has gone into protective self-isolation after a person close to him came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, as Sweden experiences a fall surge of coronavirus infections.

Stefan Lofven broke the news on Facebook on Thursday, when the Scandinavian country passed the threshold of 6,000 overall coronavirus deaths.
“The developments are going in the wrong direction fast. More are infected. More die. This is a serious situation,” he wrote.

“On the doctor’s advice, my wife Ulla and I will stay isolated for the time being,” Lofven wrote. “This is the only responsible thing to do in this situation,” he added, saying the person close to him had been in contact with another person who had tested positive.

Earlier this year, when European nations locked down to fight the virus, Sweden drew worldwide attention by keeping schools, gyms and restaurants open and not requiring people to wear masks. But now that daily new infections are on the rise again, Swedes may not have had much practice in making sacrifices for the national good.

In recent weeks, the government has ruled that a maximum of eight people can be seated at a restaurant together. It has also rolled out local restrictions — urging people to avoid crowded places, avoid public transportation and work from home if possible — that now affect seven in 10 Swedes.

At first, the Nordic country of 10 million people had some of the lowest numbers of new coronavirus cases. However, the latest figures tell a different story.

For the week beginning Oct. 19, Sweden reported 9,165 new infections, an increase of 63% compared to the previous week and the highest number of cases seen so far in one week, according to Sweden’s Public Health Agency.

Overall, Sweden reported another 4,034 infections Thursday, and 141,764 in total, and five more deaths that brought the overall toll to 6,002.
In comparison, neighboring Denmark has had 50,530 cases and 729 deaths and Norway, which shares a more than 1,600-kilometer (994-mile) border with Sweden, has recorded 21,954 cases and only 282 deaths.

As to the two-week cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000, Sweden has 293, Denmark 233 and Norway 97.3. The corresponding number of deaths is 0.7 in Sweden and Denmark, and 0.1 in Norway.

Mutation of virus in minks transmitted to humans in Denmark

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Seven Danish mayors say restaurants will be closed across northern Denmark and people in the region will be encouraged to be tested after authorities found a mutation in the virus in 12 residents who got infected by minks.

At the same time, the borders to seven northern Denmark municipalities will be closed, the mayor of Vesthimmerland, told Danish broadcaster TV2. Birgit Hansen, the mayor of the port town of Frederikshavn, said only people with “critical functions” can cross municipal boundaries.

People in that region, which has numerous mink farms, also will be urged to work from home.

The restrictions, which are to be announced later Thursday, would begin Friday and last for four weeks.

The move comes after Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday that all 15 million minks in Danish farms should be culled to minimize the risk of them re-transmitting the coronavirus to humans.

Britain extends salary support for 5 months

LONDON — The British government extended for five months a salary support program paying 80% of wages for those unemployed because of coronavirus restrictions.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak told lawmakers the program, which ended Oct. 31, will be extended until the end of March. The program includes all U.K. nations.

Last week, the government put England into lockdown from Thursday until Dec. 2 because of surging coronavirus infections.

Sunak says the economic effects of lockdown “are much longer lasting for businesses and areas than the duration of any restrictions.”

Professional sports virus bubbles provide game-changing lessons

The NBA wants to be back in December. The NHL is aiming at games resuming in January. Baseball’s spring training may begin in February, like normal.

They almost certainly won’t be in bubbles if and when any or all of that happens.

But many of the lessons learned from being in some form of a bubble environment — where the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball each crowned a champion after finding a way to finish their seasons in most unusual circumstances — could apply to whatever the new definition of normal is for those and other sports.

A new set of rules are coming in just about every sport, almost all with enhanced health and safety in mind. If they work, games could return to arenas and stadiums with some fans in attendance sometime soon. Perhaps more importantly, they could also provide some common-sense solutions to virus issues in the real world.

“The testing isn’t what made it successful, the testing sort of showed that it was successful,” said NBA senior vice president David Weiss, who helped oversee all the health and safety efforts at the Walt Disney World bubble in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. “But the thing that made it successful in the first place was the adherence to all those protocols that most people can follow most of the time in their lives.”

There was no magic bullet in the NBA or NHL bubbles: Masks were worn, hand sanitizing was stressed constantly and social distancing was required at all times.

The NBA had teams in the bubble for three months, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning that title. The NHL playoff bubble lasted 65 days, from the time teams arrived in Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, until Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup. Officials from both leagues noted that mask, distancing and other protocols were still being followed strictly on the final day.

“It was unique,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, “but hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Greece imposes 3-week lockdown to save hospitals

ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister has announced a nationwide three-week lockdown starting Saturday, saying that the increase in coronavirus infections must be stopped before the country’s health care system comes under “unbearable” pressure.

The main difference between this lockdown and the one Greece imposed in the spring is that kindergartens and primary schools will remain open. High schools will operate by remote learning. The lockdown goes until Nov. 30.

Residents will only be able to leave their homes for specific reasons such as work, medical appointments or exercise, and after informing authorities by text message. Retail businesses will be shut down but not supermarkets and food stores. Restaurants will operate on a delivery-only basis.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he “chose once again to take drastic measures sooner rather than later” after seeing an “aggressive increase in cases” over the last five days.

On Wednesday, Greece announced a record 18 daily deaths and 2,646 new cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to just under 47,000 and the deaths to 673.

Russian students will stay online as cases resurge

MOSCOW — Moscow authorities on Thursday extended online studies for middle and high school students for two more weeks amid a rapid resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered school students from 6th to 11th grade to continue online classes until Nov. 22. “Lots of kids want to return to classes. This is understandable. But in the current situation … it is obvious that it is too early to relax,” Sobyanin said.

Russia’s number of new infections has gone from over 5,000 a day in early September to over 19,000 a day this week. On Thursday, Russian officials reported 19,404 new cases, bringing the country’s total to over 1.7 million. Russian authorities have also reported over 29,000 deaths in the pandemic.

Despite the rapid surge of infections, the authorities have insisted there was no need to impose a second lockdown or shut down businesses.

Moscow, which accounts for roughly 1/4 of Russia’s daily new infections, has ordered its elderly residents to self-isolate at home and employers to have at least 30% of their staff work from home.

ICU beds nearing capacity in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota hospitals are under pressure and ICU beds are nearing full capacity as coronavirus cases reach a new high and hospitalizations continue to surge.

The state Department of Health said that as of Wednesday afternoon, 887 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 219 in intensive care.

Officials said ICU bed use is at 98% capacity in the Twin Cities area and 92% statewide. The vast majority of ICU beds are occupied by patients with ailments unrelated to COVID-19, but the rise in hospitalizations is straining capacity.

Minnesota reported a record-high 3,844 new cases of the coronavirus Wednesday and 31 deaths. The state has seen 160,923 cases and 2,530 deaths since the pandemic began.