COVID-19 Update, October 2, 2020: The White House Quarantine

Today's title tells all. The pandemic reaches the upper echelon of the government, with consequences that are impossible to predict.

The latest:

The president and the first lady are infected with COVID-19. They go into quarantine: tinyurl.com/y4gb4t35.

Doctors note that the president comes with several comorbidities: tinyurl.com/y4aue8y5. An assessment of the president's health risks: tinyurl.com/yxbkktuq. Ignoring CDC rules, the president went on campaigning even after Ronna McDaniel, with whom he had been meeting, tested positive on Wednesday: tinyurl.com/y6fywg9p.

Mike and Karen Pence test negative: tinyurl.com/y6ynoard. The Secret Service has been struggling with an outbreak: tinyurl.com/y3twqtgy. Insiders describe the White House COVID-19 testing protocols as lax and scattershot: tinyurl.com/y57lyg5h. The potentially exposed Joe Biden tests negative.

Utah Senator Mike Lee tests positive for COVID-19: tinyurl.com/y5c8sxf4.

House Democrats pass a stimulus bill that has no chance of being enacted; talks continue between Nancy Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin: tinyurl.com/y3ejd4a9. Indeed, Pelosi says that the president's diagnosis changes things, making a bill more likely: tinyurl.com/yywxzyum.

Nonfarm payrolls grew by 661,000 workers in September, an underwhelming figure: tinyurl.com/y4r46d2g.

More than 19,000 Amazon workers have been infected with COVID-19: tinyurl.com/y27samjg.

The CEO of Pfizer states that the company will not succumb to political pressure to produce a vaccine a certain date: tinyurl.com/y2hvls7u.

Members of Actors' Equity will have to work additional weeks to quality for healthcare; it's unclear how this will work if production doesn't start up until mid-year or later: tinyurl.com/y3m8dyk5. The trouble is that employer contributions, which make up 88% of the fund, have largely ceased: tinyurl.com/y6976oe6.

American and United Airlines are cutting more than 30,000 jobs: tinyurl.com/yxem734m.

The idea of airport COVID-19 tests is catching on: tinyurl.com/y6bztpfw.

Food for thought:

Some colleges have reopened with very few COVID-19 cases. The secret? Extensive testing: tinyurl.com/y5grz28s. The testing system in New York City's school may not be up to the scale of the test: tinyurl.com/y26kchsj.

Around the country:

In California:

In a sign of growing tensions, Walt Disney Company Executive Chairman Bob Iger resigns from the governor's COVID-19 economic task force: tinyurl.com/y43wugqp.

The state's larger counties won't be allowed to reopen until they reduce COVID-19 infections in areas inhabited by the poor, Blacks, Latinos, and Pacific Islanders: tinyurl.com/y24yltvg.

How the TV series Grey's Anatomy plans to return to production: tinyurl.com/y4faq4rz.

In Florida:

Crowds at the Disney parks are historically low: tinyurl.com/y2fogbv5.

Several of the state's universities cancel spring break: tinyurl.com/y4s9wp24.

Starting November, 1 Carnival Cruise Line will launch cruises from Port Canaveral and Miami: tinyurl.com/y4s9asts.

Hospitalizations in Central Florida have hit a plateau: tinyurl.com/y3jwmlu9.

In Illinois:

Hotel owners warn of closings and mass job cuts: tinyurl.com/y5toxwdy.

Halloween will be held, with certain restrictions: tinyurl.com/y2m9bfve.

In New York:

The governor rolls out a new app that tells users if they have been within six feet of someone who has been infected with the coronavirus: tinyurl.com/y6xw22ff.

A new report identifies New York City's courthouses as unacceptably risky locations: tinyurl.com/y3e439qd.

The Central Park horse carriages are back: tinyurl.com/yxohovpf.

In Tennessee:

Pro football's Titans are benched, at least for now, as new COVID-19 infections are reported: tinyurl.com/y6b7bf7f.

In Texas:

Local opera companies band together to survived the pandemic: tinyurl.com/yytw7n2a.

Around the world:

In the UK:

Six months in the life of the locked-down National Theatre: tinyurl.com/y2kyq7d3.

Stronger restrictions are placed on Liverpool, where new COVID-19 infections have quadrupled over the last month: tinyurl.com/y2coa3h4.

Mobilization:

The #WeMakeEvents Global Day of Action is the biggest, most comprehensive event yet: tinyurl.com/yxv9tqho.

Michael Strickland appears on WGN America's NewsNation: tinyurl.com/y2mkyhdt.

Here's the latest NAMM Call to Action. Please respond: tinyurl.com/yyvqcs8u.

Education:

From Barco: "Show and Tell with LED," October 6 at 2:00pm ET. Register at: tinyurl.com/y2mgm3qd.

For your entertainment:

San Francisco Opera streams productions of Tosca (October 10 - 11), Verdi's Attila (October 17 - 18), and The Marriage of Figaro (October 24 - 25): www.sfopera.com.

For your pleasure:

A brace of Broadway personalities offer a little much-needed uplift in David Friedman's "Help is on the Way:" tinyurl.com/y5av5e6y.

That's all for today. Have a good weekend. Stay safe. -- DB

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Previous LSA COVID-19 Updates: plasa.me/lsacovid19resources.