U.S. Passes 11 Million Coronavirus Cases as Washington State Orders New Restrictions

Paulina Firozi and Hannah Knowles of The Washington Post wrote:Coronavirus cases reported in the United States passed 11 million on Sunday, as the nation shatters records for hospitalizations and daily new infections and as leaders turn to new, painful restrictions to stem the pandemic’s long-predicted surge.

The milestone came one week after the country hit 10 million cases, a testament to just how rapidly the virus is spreading — the first 1 million cases took three months. This new wave has pushed COVID-19 hospitalizations past the peaks seen in April and July, straining health-care systems and pushing some reluctant Republican governors to enact statewide mask mandates for the first time.

Other states are reenacting stay-at-home orders and store closures. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Sunday announced a slew of new rules, including a halt to indoor operations at restaurants, bars, gyms and more and a ban on indoor social gatherings with people outside one’s household. At a news conference, Inslee acknowledged that slowing the virus would come at a steep price for struggling businesses, even as the state works to distribute millions more in aid.

He appealed to the federal government to step in with more help, as Congress remains deadlocked on a stimulus package and as President Trump’s refusal to concede the election delays the transition to a new administration. That holdup extends to the formal transfer of information on the national pandemic response.

“All of us who feel, as I do, the pain of the small-business people ought to be pounding the doors of the Congress and the new president, who I’m glad we’re going to have, to really get this job done,” Inslee said.

State and local officials across the country are imposing new restrictions to fight the virus. In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has reinstated many restrictions, banning on-site dining and requiring nonessential businesses to close their physical locations. And in Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced a two-week statewide “freeze,” a move that comes just ahead of Thanksgiving and includes limiting gatherings.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) on Friday issued a statewide mask mandate and new capacity limits on businesses, less than a week after Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R) announced a similar mask order in the face of overwhelmed hospitals warning that they might have to ration care.

“Our situation has changed, and we must change with it,” Burgum said in a late-night video message.

But state rules are just one piece of the puzzle, and some leaders are looking to Congress and the incoming president to take stronger action, as Trump — still denying his election loss — largely tunes out the pandemic’s surge.

Ron Klain, Joe Biden’s incoming chief of staff, said Sunday it’s critical for the president-elect’s transition team to start working with Trump administration officials to ensure “nothing drops in this change of power” that could put the distribution of a potential coronavirus vaccine at risk.

“Joe Biden is going to become president of the United States in the midst of an ongoing crisis. That has to be a seamless transition,” Klain said in an interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press. “We now have the possibility — we need to see if it gets approved — of a vaccine, starting perhaps in December, January. There are people at [the Department of Health and Human Services] making plans to implement that vaccine. Our experts need to talk to those people as soon as possible so nothing drops in this change of power we’re going to have on Jan. 20.”

President Trump’s White House is blocking the administration from formally cooperating with Biden, forcing the president-elect’s transition team to continue preparations with recently departed government officials and other experts. That means Biden’s team has not heard from the Trump administration about vaccine development and other work to combat the pandemic.

How Biden’s transition team will work around Trump’s blockade of the government

A health expert on Biden’s covid-19 advisory board said there’s “a lot of information that needs to be transmitted. It can’t wait until the last minute.”

“It is in the nation’s interest that the transition team get the threat assessments that the team knows about, understand the vaccine distribution plans, need to know where the stockpiles are, what the status is of masks and gloves,” said Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, on ABC News’s This Week.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, compared the process to “passing a baton in a race.”

“I’ve been through multiple transitions now, having served six presidents for 36 years, and it’s very clear that transition process that we go through … is really important in a smooth handing over of the information,” Fauci said.

“Of course it would be better if we could start working with them,” he added when asked whether working with Biden’s team would serve the public interest.

On Meet the Press, Klain said there is “not that much Joe Biden can do right now to change things,” because he is not yet president.

“Right now we have a crisis that’s getting worse,” Klain said. “We had never had a day with 100,000 cases in a single day until last week. By next week, we may see 200,000 cases in a single day.”

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir said on ABC News’s This Week that ahead of a potential vaccine, Americans need to continue to wear masks and physically distance to curb virus spread, noting that “we really are in a critical situation today.”

“Across the board, whether these are local mandates, whether these are voluntary, whether these are public service messages, we have to have the American people wear a mask when you can’t physically distance,” he said.