Pandemic, Protests and the Election News Flash

As part of our effort to provide you with the most up-to-date, accurate information regarding the pandemic and 2020 election, we've compiled some of the most pressing updates below. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or if we can be of any further assistance.

Takeaways From Thursday’s Dueling Trump and Biden Town Halls [via New York Times] Trump stomped on his own message with his refusal to denounce QAnon. “I just don’t know about QAnon,” Mr. Trump claimed, despite having amplified a discredited claim by the theory’s proponents just days ago. Ms. Guthrie swiftly walked through how the far-right movement falsely claims Democrats are a satanic cult that practices pedophilia. “Can you just once and for all state that is completely not true and disavow QAnon in its entirety?” she pressed. “I do know they are very much against pedophilia — they fight it very hard,” Mr. Trump said. Biden suggested making masks and mandatory. Biden said that he himself would take a by the end of the year, and would urge other Americans to do so, “if the body of scientists say that this is what is ready to be done and it’s been tested.” He also said he might support making vaccines mandatory — but acknowledged that such a measure would be difficult to enforce. “You can’t say everyone has to do this, but it’s like you can’t mandate a mask,” he said. Trump clung to an unpopular posture on masks and the pandemic. Trump, despite having recently contracted the coronavirus and requiring hospitalization for it, still cannot bring himself to arrive at a full-throated embrace of mask-wearing. “I’m OK with masks — I tell people, ‘Wear masks,’” he said. But he couldn’t resist an addendum. “Just the other day,” he said, he had seen a study that showed that people using masks were still contracting the virus. Biden finally addressed court packing — sort of. After energetically avoiding the question recently, Biden signaled that he would announce before Election Day whether he supports expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court. But he said he wanted to wait until after the Senate had acted on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Still M.I.A.: a second-term Trump agenda. The lack of a vision for the next four years — and for navigating the remaining months and years of the pandemic — is a glaring and unaddressed weakness for Mr. Trump. When Ms. Guthrie gave him a chance to make his closing pitch for another four years, he began, “Because I’ve done a great job.” There were few other specifics beyond the classic Trumpian boast. “Next year,” he promised, “is going to be better than ever before.” Avalanche of early votes is transforming the 2020 election [via AP] More than 17 million Americans have already cast ballots in the 2020 election, a record-shattering avalanche of early votes driven both by Democratic enthusiasm and a pandemic that has transformed the way the nation votes. So far the turnout has been lopsided, with Democrats outvoting Republicans by a 2-1 ratio in the 42 states included in The count. Americans’ rush to vote is leading election experts to predict that a record 150 million votes may be cast and turnout rates could be higher than in any presidential election since 1908. TV Ratings: Biden Leads Town Hall Duel With Trump in Early Numbers [via Variety] Trump’s hourlong appearance on NBC appears to be trailing Biden’s 90- minute session with ABC in the ratings, at least according to early numbers. Biden drew 12.7 million total viewers on the Disney-owned network, while Trump drew 10.4 million in the same 9-10 p.m. time slot on NBC. Across the entire runtime, the Biden town hall averaged 12.3 million viewers. In terms of the fast national 18-49 demographic, Biden is comfortably on top with a 2.6 rating to Trump’s 1.7. Cuomo Updates New Yorkers On State's Progress During Pandemic [via Office of the Governor] Statewide Positivity Rate is 1.25 Percent

Positive Testing Rate in Hot Spot Areas is 4.84 Percent; New York State Positivity Without Red Zone Focus Areas Included is 1.14 Percent

10 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday Chirlane McCray decides not to run for Brooklyn borough president [via New York Post] McCray, the wife of Mayor Bill de Blasio, announced her decision not to run for the position on Thursday night. “It was a difficult decision. I thought about running for Brooklyn borough president long and hard,” McCray said. McCray said she will spend the remainder of de Blasio’s mayoral term through 2021 helping New Yorkers recover from the coronavirus pandemic. De Blasio pushes back against Cuomo's funding threat [via Politico] Mayor Bill de Blasio denounced as “bluster” Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s threat to withhold the city’s funding over a lack of enforcement of public health rules in coronavirus hotspot neighborhoods. “I’m very used to bluster from Washington and from Albany. I’ve heard a lot of it. I understand bluster when I see it,” de Blasio said Thursday, a day after Cuomo announced he was sending a letter to New York City and other localities warning them their state funding will be withdrawn if shutdown rules are not strictly enforced. U.S. surpasses 64,000 new coronavirus infections for first time since July [via Washington Post] The tally of newly reported coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 64,000 on Thursday. In 44 states and the District of Columbia, caseloads are higher than they were one month ago, and many of the new infections are being reported in rural areas with limited hospital capacity. Dr. Fauci said on Thursday that the current situation was worrying as winter approaches. confirms it won’t seek authorization for its vaccine before the second half of next month [via New York Times] Pfizer’s chief executive said on Friday that the company would not apply for emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine before the third week of November, ruling out President Trump’s assertion that a vaccine would be ready before Election Day on Nov. 3. The timeline now allows for a possible U.S. authorization of a coronavirus vaccine this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said earlier this month it wants at least two months of safety data on half of the trial participants before authorizing emergency use of any experimental coronavirus vaccine. Based on current trial enrollment and dosing in a late-stage trial, Pfizer expects to have that safety data in the third week of November, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said. GAC in the News: Top Citi banker Ray McGuire leaves to pursue NYC mayoral run [via American Banker] “There’s suspicion among city voters about Wall Street and big money in general,” said George Arzt, a Democratic political consultant who was press secretary for former Mayor Ed Koch. “He's not well known, and a lot will depend on how he comes across on the stump, and how he presents policies on the side of poor people.” On his campaign website, McGuire is courting ordinary New Yorkers with tales of his early days in the city. When he first arrived, McGuire said, he stayed at a friend’s apartment rent-free while he searched for his own home. Still, those days are long gone: He ultimately joined Citigroup in 2005 as the bank’s head of global investment banking following earlier stints at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. After more than a decade in the role, originating deals valued at a combined $650 billion, McGuire was named vice chairman in 2018.

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