Testing Demand Strains Public Health Systems As Clinics Are Overrun
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Late Edition Today, a good deal of sunshine, re- maining cool, high 52. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 42. Tomorrow, in- creasingly cloudy, rain, windy, high 59. Weather map is on Page B14. VOL. CLXX .... No. 58,877 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020 $3.00 Testing Demand Strains Public Health Systems As Clinics Are Overrun Long Lines as U.S. Faces Record Number of Virus Infections Almost Daily This article is by Joseph Gold- impose a stay-at-home order. stein, Shawn Hubler and Katherine Mayor Bill de Blasio of New J. Wu. York announced that it was ex- New Yorkers stood for hours in tremely likely that the city would long lines to be tested for the co- have to shut down its school sys- ronavirus on Friday, a disturbing tem, the nation’s largest, with 1.1 indicator that shows the basic million children, because the sev- public health challenges that the en-day test positivity rate across United States still faces many the five boroughs would soon hit 3 months after the pandemic first percent. hit. In Washington, President People waited for tests they Trump made his first appearance needed for work or school. Some to discuss the outbreak since the feared they might have gotten election and said it was possible sick after flouting social distanc- that vaccines for the virus could ing while celebrating after the be widely available by the spring. election. Others hoped to safely Mr. Trump also deepened his visit family on Thanksgiving, sug- feud with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo gesting that the problem might of New York, threatening to with- worsen over the coming holidays. hold a vaccine from the state be- And some, dissuaded by the cause of Mr. Cuomo’s criticism of prospect of lingering on sidewalks the administration’s distribution NICOLE CRAINE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES for more than three hours in the plan. One Down, Millions to Go rain, walked away untested. The potential impact of the “It’s so frustrating,” said Coun- president’s threat was not imme- In Georgia, the grueling process of recounting nearly five million ballots by hand has begun, and is likely to go on for days. Page A15. cilman Mark Levine of Manhat- diately clear, given that Mr. Trump tan, the Health Committee chair- is leaving office on Jan. 20. Presi- man. “We keep hitting new prob- dent-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is a lems in tests. We solve one and an- close ally of Mr. Cuomo and is VOTE CHALLENGES Biden Eager to Dismantle DeVos’s School Rules other pops up.” likely to put in place a different The lines and escalating de- distribution plan. The Trump administration has mand for testing underscore how By all accounts, even if things go well, vaccines are still months FIZZLE IN COURTS By ERICA L. GREEN Vowing to Drastically demanded that schools reopen, a second wave of the virus is despite severe budget constraints threatening New York City, and away. For now, much of the atten- WASHINGTON — Like most and confusing health guidelines, they come as the entire country tion is focused on testing prob- federal agencies, the Education Increase Resources while the Education Department confronts record numbers of new lems, which were threatening to Department followed President delay results and hinder efforts to Legal Defeats Leave the has all but absolved itself of track- cases — more than 165,000 nation- Trump’s lead in seeking to undo for Education control the spread of the virus. ing the virus’s impact and offering ally on Friday. Several governors the legacy of his predecessor, and New York City had a record President Little Room solutions. The Biden campaign have warned that they are seri- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos number of tests on Thursday, has promised federal relief fund- ously considering further restric- diligently tore into President den, is a community college pro- more than 74,000, officials said. ing and assistance for schools to tions in a last-ditch effort to curb By ALAN FEUER Barack Obama’s policies. fessor and member of the Na- the outbreak. Across the country, nearly 1.5 mil- address the devastating effects of President-elect Joseph R. Biden tional Education Association, the The governors of California, Or- lion people a day are being tested, President Trump suffered mul- the pandemic on the academic tra- Jr. is planning to return the favor. nation’s largest teachers’ union. egon and Washington urged resi- according to the Covid Tracking tiple legal setbacks in three key jectory of their most vulnerable swing states on Friday, choking The contrasts in Trump-era ed- The Biden administration has dents to avoid all nonessential in- Project. That is nearly double the ucation policy and the incoming promised to drastically increase students. terstate travel in the days ahead. number in August and far more off many of his last-ditch efforts to But the president-elect’s close- use the courts to delay or block Biden agenda are stark. Ms. De- resources for public schools, ex- In Utah, which also just set a case than during the pandemic’s first Vos, a lifelong booster of private pand civil rights advocacy for ness with the powerful teachers’ record, Gov. Gary Herbert issued wave in the spring, when there President-elect Joseph R. Biden unions has raised concerns. Un- Jr.’s victory. schools and opponent of the teach- marginalized students and re- a statewide mask mandate this was far less testing capacity. ions have come under fire from In quick succession, Mr. Trump ers’ unions, set out to reduce the assert department leadership in week and told residents to limit Public health systems around parents and school leaders who was handed defeats in Pennsylva- Education Department’s footprint policymaking. casual social gatherings to those the country are once again strain- say their opposition to in-person nia, Arizona and Michigan, where by proposing cuts to public school On the most pressing issue fac- in their immediate households. ing under the need for testing. instruction conflicts with science a state judge in Detroit rejected an funding and narrowing the de- ing education, reopening schools In Illinois, which has recorded Some areas face looming short- unusual Republican attempt to partment’s enforcement of federal during the pandemic, the Biden and students’ well-being. Ms. De- more than 80,000 new cases in the ages of lab capacity. In other halt the certification of the vote in education laws and civil rights. administration has signaled a Vos posted a series of articles on past week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker places, like New York City, clinics Wayne County pending an audit of The incoming first lady, Jill Bi- sharply different approach. Continued on Page A16 warned that the state could soon Continued on Page A7 the count. The legal losses came as Mr. Bi- den was declared the victor in Georgia and a day after an agency in the president’s own Depart- Baseball First: Qaeda’s No. 2 ment of Homeland Security flatly contradicted him by declaring A Woman Rises Killed in August that the election “was the most se- cure in American history” and that “there is no evidence” any To Run a Team In Iran Capital voting systems malfunctioned. On Friday, 16 federal prosecu- By TYLER KEPNER This article is by Adam Goldman, tors who had been assigned to and JAMES WAGNER Eric Schmitt, Farnaz Fassihi and monitor the election also directly Ronen Bergman. debunked claims of widespread Kim Ng has long been viewed fraud, saying in a letter to Attor- as the person who would break WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda’s ney General William P. Barr that one of baseball’s most stubborn second-highest leader, accused of there was no evidence of substan- barriers. being one of the masterminds of tial irregularities. Thirty years ago, Ms. Ng, 51, the deadly 1998 attacks on Ameri- In his first public remarks of the started work in the game as an in- can embassies in Africa, was week, Mr. Trump ignored the de- tern for the Chicago White Sox, at- killed in Iran three months ago, in- velopments during an appearance tempting to carve out a career in a telligence officials have con- in the Rose Garden. But he sport dominated by men. She firmed. showed a momentary crack in his worked her way up, earning sen- Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who previously relentless insistence ior positions with the Yankees and went by the nom de guerre Abu that he would eventually be pro- the Los Angeles Dodgers and, Muhammad al-Masri, was claimed the winner of the cam- most recently, serving as Major gunned down on the streets of paign, saying at one point, “What- League Baseball’s senior vice Tehran by two assassins on a ever happens in the future, who president of baseball operations. motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniver- knows, which administration, I On Friday, she became the first SAI AUNG MAIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES sary of the embassy attacks. He guess time will tell.” woman hired to run a major Supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after elections this week. Her political party won handily. was killed along with his daughter, Mr. Trump’s bad day at the bar league team’s baseball operations Miriam, the widow of Osama bin began at dawn when news when she was named general Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden. emerged that lawyers from Porter manager of the Miami Marlins. The attack was carried out by Wright Morris & Arthur had “This challenge is one I don’t How a Human Rights Celebrity Lost Her Halo Israeli operatives at the behest of abruptly withdrawn from a fed- take lightly,” Ms.