COVID-19 Update: December 1, 2020: The Darkness Before the Dawn

As the holiday season begins, we face a paradox. Hopes for the end of the pandemic are higher than ever but the immediate future is startlingly bleak. The current administration has checked out on the pandemic and the incoming administration can do very little until it takes power in two months. Hospitals around the country are overwhelmed, especially in rural areas where the patients are the doctors and nurses' friends and neighbors. Another attempt at stimulus is in the offing, but it's not clear that the political will exists to pass it. Meanwhile, save a prayer or thought for frontline healthcare personnel; they've had nine months of this and the strain is showing.

The latest:

A vaccine is coming but until it does, expect a harsh COVID winter: tinyurl.com/y3px8aaw. Why health experts are terrified of a pandemic Christmas: tinyurl.com/y28ps4h4.

Could it be real? A bipartisan group of Senators will unveil a $908 billion pandemic relief package: tinyurl.com/y6yu8z8h.

The chairman of the Federal Reserve speaks out in favor of pandemic relief spending: tinyurl.com/y3blxkyx.

Scott Atlas, the controversial member of the White House coronavirus task force, resigns: tinyurl.com/y4qcvuwh.

Food for thought:

Doctors and nurses on the front lines, facing yet another wave of illness, suffer from combat fatigue: tinyurl.com/y2kxzlyq. Inside a rural hospital's battle with COVID-19: tinyurl.com/y5v3fbsr.

A new study shows that students are falling behind in math during the pandemic: tinyurl.com/y6dxmfwx.

A look at the NFL's methodology for optimizing reduced seating in stadiums: tinyurl.com/y3sbpnwu.

Around the country:

In Arizona:

The San Francisco 49ers will play a couple of home games in Arizona after new COVID-19 restrictions make them impossible in California: tinyurl.com/y34yau26.

In California:

The governor warns that a stay-at-home order is near: tinyurl.com/yyvv9tzy.

San Diego County hospitals are facing an overwhelming surge in COVID-19 cases: tinyurl.com/y6pz8zve.

The mayor of Los Angeles intervenes to prevent a COVID-19 testing station from being shut down for a shoot for the remake of the film She's All That: tinyurl.com/yydfn5jc.

In Florida:

The state adds 6,659 new COVID-19 cases; sometime on Tuesday, it will pass the million-case mark: tinyurl.com/y4vo6knc.

Schools can continue with online learning next semester, but they are told to inform parents that in-person leaning is better: tinyurl.com/y436wf8k.

A packed crowd at a concert in an Orlando club raises fears of another super-spreader event: tinyurl.com/y4gj5u68.

The governor rules out any future lockdowns or mask mandates: tinyurl.com/y4jfy647.

Danielle Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade Country, tests positive for COVID-19: tinyurl.com/y3xvpppb.

In Illinois:

Chicago-area Walmarts are revising their drive-in COVID-19 testing scheme; customers must make an appoint for curbside pick-up of tests to be taken at home; results will be processed by Quest Diagnostics: tinyurl.com/y64mdxet.

In Maryland:

The University of Maryland - Towson men's basketball game, scheduled for today, is off because of COVID-19: tinyurl.com/yxkc4h3w.

The Ravens - Steelers game is postponed again: tinyurl.com/y2uogemc.

In Michigan:

The Michigan University Wolverines football team is pausing all in-person activity because of an increased number of COVID-19 cases: tinyurl.com/yx8koj7a.

In Nevada:

The number of COVID-19 cases passes 150,000; the state's positivity rate climbs above 17%: tinyurl.com/yyevuwa2.

In New York:

The governor announces a revamped pandemic strategy to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed: tinyurl.com/y4qzdmfm.

If you want to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, you'll have to make reservation and your reservation can be no bigger than four people: tinyurl.com/y4suonhq.

In Ohio:

GOP lawmakers, opposed to his COVID-19 related restrictions, file articles of impeachment against Governor Mike DeWine: tinyurl.com/y5n5zrjn.

In Rhode Island:

"We have nowhere to treat you." Hospitals in the state hit capacity, thanks to the pandemic. New COVID-19 cases are to be diverted to a field hospital in Cranston: tinyurl.com/y62juhew.

Around the world:

In Austria:

A ski holiday ban is in the offing this season: tinyurl.com/y55ecemg.

In Israel:

Bethlehem, normally a top destination at this time for year for tourists and pilgrims, is basically empty: tinyurl.com/y564zphd.

In Turkey:

The country is recording upwards of 30,000 new cases a day: tinyurl.com/yy75u8u7.

In the UK:

Pubs and many other venues in Wales will be forced to close at 6pm: tinyurl.com/yybvelxa.

Education:

City Theatrical hosts a 30-minute training webinar on its newest wireless DMX/RDM technology for film and video projects, Multiverse Studio; attendance includes the chance to win a free RadioScan Spectrum Analyzer. This webinar will explore Multiverse Studio Receiver, Multiverse Studio Kit, and Multiverse Studio Add On Kit. It takes place December 3 at 11:00am EST. Register at tinyurl.com/y5txs6lv.

New webinar from Soundcraft: "An Audio Jack is Not a Jack, is Not a Jack with Jan Van Zyl," December 9 at 12:00pm CST; register at tinyurl.com/y3ykguzx.

Entertainment:

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents Ailey & Ellington on Saturday, December 5 at 2:00pm ET, showcasing three of the 14 ballets founder Alvin Ailey created to celebrate Duke Ellington: Night Creature, a film debut of Reflections in D, and an excerpt of Pas de Duke: tinyurl.com/y7hxvdxp.

A streaming version of Bill Russell and Janet Hood's 1989 revue Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens is presented December 1, World AIDS Day, to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. A celebration of the lives lost to AIDS told in free-verse monologues with a blues, jazz, and rock score, the piece streams beginning at 5:00pm ET at BroadwayCares.org/Elegies. The show is available through December 5.The virtual production features Brooks Ashmanskas, Laura Bell Bundy, Robin de Jesús, Lena Hall, Jayne Houdyshell, Famke Janssen, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Joaquina Kalukango, Nathan Lane, Norm Lewis, Kevin McHale, Varla Jean Merman, Jessie Mueller, Cynthia Nixon, Anthony Rapp, Krysta Rodriguez, Seth Rudetsky , JK Simmons, Alysha Umphress, Paul Castree, Richard Chamberlain, Charity Angél Dawson, Fran Drescher, J. Harrison Ghee, Gideon Glick, Lisa Howard, James Monroe Iglehart, Cherry Jones, Francis Jue, Vicki Lewis, Telly Leung, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Eric William Morris, Okieriete Onaodowan, and Michael Xavier, with special appearances by Judith Light, Danny Burstein, Billy Porter, and Michael Urie.

PlayCo and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, the Guthrie Theater, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival will present Amir Nizar Zuabi's This Is Who I Am, directed by Evren Odcikin, December 5 - January 3. Tickets to This Is Who I Am start at $15 and are available online at www.woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, and via email at tickets@woollymammoth.net. To make this production accessible for as many audiences as possible, $5 tickets are available for preview performances with the code EVERYONE5.

For your pleasure:

André De Shields, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, and Kimberly Marable perform "Road to Hell," by Anaïs Mitchell, from the musical Hadestown: tinyurl.com/y5m2thnm.

That's all for today. Stay safe. -- DB.

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