SharonClark
SharonClark's JournalMayo Clinic: 905 staff diagnosed with COVID in past 2 weeks
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — More than 900 staff members in the Mayo Clinic Health System in the Midwest have been diagnosed with COVID-19 over the last two weeks as the virus continues to surge across the region, officials said.
Dr. Amy Williams, executive dean of Mayo Clinic Practice, said Tuesday that the 905 newly diagnosed employees account for 30% of all staff that have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic began. And 93% of those with the coronavirus were exposed in the community, not at work, she said.
“It shows how widely spread this is in our communities and how easy it is to get COVID-19 in the communities here in the Midwest,” she said.
In total, about 1,500 Mayo Clinic staff are out due to a COVID-19 diagnosis or exposure, Williams said. That number has been roughly unchanged over the last week, as some staff have returned while others go out.
The health system has Midwest locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, but didn’t specify where the affected employees were located.
Reported COVID-19 deaths in Iowa continue to be near-record levels as another 38 people died from the disease caused by the coronavirus.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, the state was reporting 2,102 COVID-19-related deaths, an increase of 38 deaths since the state's tally at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the state's Coronavirus.Iowa.gov website. On Wednesday, the state reported 40 deaths, the largest one-day increase since the pandemic arrived in Iowa.
The state was reporting at 10 a.m. Thursday that there are 198,674 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 4,195 since 10 a.m. Wednesday.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2020/11/19/905-mayo-clinic-staff-infected-covid-19-spreads-across-midwest/6341865002/
Lawsuit: Tyson managers bet money on how many workers would contract COVID-19
This article describes how Tyson worked with Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds and totally disregarded and even mocked the welfare of Tyson employees.
A wrongful death lawsuit tied to COVID-19 infections in a Waterloo pork processing plant alleges that during the initial stages of the pandemic, Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.
Earlier this year, the family of the late Isidro Fernandez sued the meatpacking company, alleging Fernandez was exposed to the coronavirus at the Waterloo plant where he worked. The lawsuit alleges Tyson Foods is guilty of a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety.” . . .
Fernandez, who died on April 20, was one of at least five Waterloo plant employees who died of the virus. According to the Black Hawk County Health Department, more than 1,000 workers at the plant — over a third of the facility’s workforce — contracted the virus.
The lawsuit alleges that despite the uncontrolled spread of the virus at the plant, Tyson required its employees to work long hours in cramped conditions without providing the appropriate personal protective equipment and without ensuring workplace-safety measures were followed. . . .
An earlier lawsuit, by the same law firm, represents three other Tyson workers' families.
The lawsuit seeks damages for the estates of employees Sedika Buljic, 58, who died on April 18; Reberiano Garcia, 60, who died on April 23; and Jose Ayala, Jr., 44, who died on May 25. Waterloo attorneys Tom Frerichs and John Rausch and the Spence Law Firm in Wyoming are representing the families.
More at links...
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/11/18/lawsuit-tyson-managers-bet-money-on-how-many-workers-would-contract-covid-19/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=262db44b-40a7-4239-8f3e-18b4aec7c655
https://apnews.com/article/780cd323a100bee5acf2bb15c0ff6d1b
Partisanship Is Making Americans Vote For Things They Don't Actually Want
Interesting response to when people ask "How can they vote against their own interests".
Why Americans vote against their interests, and why it’s just going to get worse.
By Michael Hobbes
Last week’s election was, as usual, utterly baffling.
Voters in Florida decisively passed a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage, but also decisively favored Donald Trump, a candidate who believes the minimum wage is just fine where it is. Deep-red Montana, Mississippi and South Dakota liberalized marijuana laws. Bright-blue California and Illinois rejected rent control and income taxes, respectively.
This is nothing new. Every election is a fresh demonstration that the United States is a nation of individuals, not groups, and that those individuals have beliefs that don’t fall neatly along partisan lines.
“Most people aren’t ideological in the way journalists, political scientists and talking heads are,” said Christopher Witko, a professor at Pennsylvania State University who researches inequality and American elections. “If you’re someone who follows politics closely, knowing your position on the minimum wage makes it pretty easy to predict your position on taxes and abortion. But that’s not how it works for most of the public.”
More here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-voter-behavior-makes-no-sense_n_5fac6010c5b6d647a39b7f1d
Gloria Bolger has been fact-checking Santorum
all morning on CNN. Santorum’s latest is that the PA SOS broke the law by allowing ballots to be “cured”. All his repug buddies in PA tell him so.
Axne (IA-3) re-elected thanks to the Libertarian candidate taking GOP votes.
IA-District 3
100% Reporting
*Incumbent
Candidate Total Votes % Votes
Cindy Axne (D) * 218,968 49.0%
David Young (R) 212,727 47.6%
Bryan Holder (LB) 15,338 3.4%
Cindy is our only bright spot thsi morning.
One pollster was close regarding Iowa - Selzer/Iowa Poll
Ann Selzer's last poll for Iowa had Trump and Ernst ahead by more than any other A rated poll:
Trump +7
Ernst +4.
Vote count:
Trump +8.2
Ernst +6.6
Iowa was hit by a red wave that hit in the last week, 538 showed this as a progressively higher red line.
Sabato's Crystal Ball - The Crystal Ball's 2020 Final Picks
from his email...
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE
-- Our final Electoral College ratings show Biden at 321 EVs and Trump at 217.
-- Democrats are narrow favorites to capture a Senate majority, 50-48 with two Toss-ups
-- the two Georgia races, both of which we think are likely to go to runoffs.
-- We have Democrats netting 10 seats in the House.
-- The only governorship we have flipping is Montana, which would be a gain for GOP.
Table 1: Crystal Ball Electoral College rating changes
State Old Rating New Rating
Florida Toss-up Leans GOP
Georgia Toss-up Leans Dem
Iowa Toss-up Leans GOP
ME-2 Toss-up Leans GOP
NC Toss-up Leans Dem
Ohio Toss-up Leans GOP
Table 2: Crystal Ball Senate rating changes
Senator Old Rating New Rating
Joni Ernst (R-IA) Leans Dem Leans GOP
Thom Tillis (R-NC) Toss-up Leans Dem
John Cornyn (R-TX) Likely GOP Leans GOP
Table 3: Crystal Ball House rating changes
Member/District Old Rating New Rating
D. Schweikert (R, AZ-6) Toss-up Leans Dem
T.J. Cox (D, CA-21) Toss-up Leans Dem
D. Mucarsel-Powell (D, FL-26) Toss-up Leans Dem
IN-5 Open (Brooks, R) Toss-up Leans Dem
Jim Hagedorn (R, MN-1) Toss-up Leans Dem
C. Peterson (D, MN-7) Toss-up Leans GOP
Ann Wagner (R, MO-2) Toss-up Leans GOP
Don Bacon (R, NE-2) Toss-up Leans GOP
Susie Lee (D, NV-3) Likely Dem Leans Dem
Jeff Van Drew (R, NJ-2) Toss-up Leans Dem
Max Rose (D, NY-11) Toss-up Leans Dem
A. Brindisi (D, NY-22) Toss-up Leans Dem
John Katko (R, NY-24) Toss-up Leans GOP
Dan Bishop (R, NC-9) Safe GOP Likely GOP
NC-11 Open (Meadows, R) Likely GOP Leans GOP
Steve Chabot (R, OH-1) Toss-up Leans Dem
Kendra Horn (D, OK-5) Toss-up Leans Dem
Scott Perry (R, PA-10) Toss-up Leans Dem
Chip Roy (R, TX-21) Toss-up Leans GOP
TX-22 Open (Olson, R) Toss-up Leans GOP
VA-5 Open (Riggleman, R) Toss-up Leans GOP
J. H. Beutler (R, WA-3) Likely GOP Leans GOP
Polk County Poll Watchers in historic numbers - The Blue Barricade!
The magat-disturbers won't show up here because we're prepared. From the weekly Polk County Dems' update...
The Blue Barricade
It's official. As of 10:00 last night and probably for the first time ever, there's at least one Polk County Democratic poll watcher at every precinct for every hour on Election Day tomorrow. Altogether, we’ve recruited 333 volunteers to fulfill 351 shifts for four or five hours. Our volunteers will be a blue barricade protecting every voter, regardless of party, from any interference, misinformation, or intimidation. All will have a direct line to our Polk Dems leadership team if back-up, law enforcement, or a video recording is required for any reason.
We have same day voter register.
We're trained and ready to help every eligible voter cast a ballot!
Historic Early Voting Lines in Polk County Iowa last week
From the Polk County Dems' weekly update...
Those Lines
We’ve been marveling at the lines of voters at the County Election Office for the last several weeks, but last week took on a genuinely historic hue. . . longer line was starting to form early on Monday. On Tuesday, people were standing in the snow. On Wednesday, people started sending pizzas and bottles of water. Musicians were showing up. On Thursday, the line was two blocks long by 8:30 AM. By Friday, the line was curling around the block at 7:40 AM. The evening streetlights were still on. On Saturday, the line was three blocks long.
By Saturday at noon, an astonishing 78,620 Democrats in Polk County had already voted. There were only 5,695 outstanding absentee ballots with Democrats for us to chase. Most surprisingly, Target Smart found that 167,597 of the early voters in Iowa didn’t vote in 2016. Something big may be happening in our county and our country. As Lori Hunt noted, “people aren’t standing in line in the cold because they’re so energized to keep the status quo.”
We can still win Iowa!
What happens in Iowa if elections are too close to call?
Just an FYI
...
Unlike some states, Iowa law doesn’t include an automatic-recount provision in the event of a close race. However, recounts can be requested by the any of the candidates, or by any voter, assuming the requests are made within three days after the counties’ official election canvass.
Such requests can be made regardless of how close the race is, although the margin dictates who is responsible for the costs associated with the recount.
...
full article here: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/10/31/a-close-race-with-iowa-essential-to-trump-makes-a-recount-more-likely/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=645a61fa-0c15-4fe9-b1b1-fd52daaa82e7
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Member since: Sat Sep 26, 2015, 03:46 PMNumber of posts: 10,014
