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October 23, 2020

U.S. Confirms Over 71,000 Daily Coronavirus Cases as Some Hospitals Near Capacity
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The United States confirmed more than 71,000 new coronavirus infections
Thursday - one of the worst daily tolls of the U.S. outbreak so far.

North Dakota has suspended contact tracing efforts as a backlog of cases
overwhelmed National Guard soldiers assigned to track down the contacts
of infected people. As of Thursday, North Dakota's hospitals had just 14
intensive care unit beds available statewide. Data compiled by Johns
Hopkins shows that if North Dakota were a nation, it would have the
highest number of per capita COVID-19 cases in the world.

In Wisconsin, a massive field hospital outside Milwaukee admitted its
first COVID-19 patient Thursday as Wisconsin's infections continued to
surge to record-high levels.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert warned Thursday that the state's healthcare
system is at or near its capacity.

In Massachusetts, Boston's schools superintendent on Thursday canceled
plans to resume in-person learning at public schools.

In Houston, Texas, teachers at dozens of schools staged "sick-out"
protests Thursday demanding smaller class sizes, enforced social
distancing and mask wearing, better classroom ventilation and other
safety measures at schools.


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